The World Bank has said in its latest report that buoyed by an increase in public investment and incentives to boost manufacturing, India’s economy is expected to grow by 8.3 percent in the fiscal year 2021-22, less than the previous projection early this year before the country was hit by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 31, the World Bank said India’s real GDP growth for fiscal year 21/22 could range from 7.5 to 12.5 percent.
World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region Hans Timmer told that when one looks at the high-frequency data, they see that as a result of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery paused, and some indicate that the recovery actually declined briefly. “We project for this fiscal year 8.3 percent (growth rate for Indian economy) that is less than we projected early in the year before the health crisis caused by the second wave. Given the sharp contraction of the economy last year, it might not look like a lot, but in my view, that is actually very positive news, given the violent second wave and the severity of the health crisis” he said.
