Union Minister Piyush Goyal hails India’s robust GDP growth in Q1; calls nation a ‘global growth engine’

Speaking about the robust expansion of the country’s GDP with the latest 7.8% growth registered in the April–June quarter of FY26, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has hailed the economic performance of the country, calling India a “global growth engine fuelled by reforms and resilience.”

“We are a global growth engine fuelled by reforms and resilience. This is the strength & resilience of the Indian economy. The services sector has been the key driver of GDP growth, beating expectations for the second consecutive quarter,” said Goyal in a post on X.

Goyal also shared a graphic quoting that amid the robust GDP growth the first quarter this fiscal year, the growth is the highest in 5 quarters, on the back of strong growth in services, agriculture and construction with latest set of reforms.

The April–June growth outpaced the 7.4% expansion recorded in the previous quarter and was significantly higher than the 6.5% seen in the same period last year. A combination of sustained domestic demand and easing inflation underpinned the momentum, economists said.

Speaking at an event of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Goyal highlighted the country’s diverse sectoral performance with the services sector leading the economy, rising 7.8% in Q1 compared to 7.4% in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Within services, public administration grew 9.8%, financial and real estate services expanded 9.5%, while trade, hotels, transport and communication rose 8.6%. Manufacturing activity also remained strong at 7.7%, while construction climbed 7.6%. Agriculture, traditionally slower to grow, recorded a notable 3.7% expansion.

On Friday, addressing a press conference on the GDP numbers, chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said the Indian economy defied the expectations of a modest growth of around 6.5% - 7% which was broadly the consensus range.

"India’s numbers are far higher in comparison to other countries that have declared numbers for the April-June quarter GDP numbers. The growth was particularly broad-based,” he said.