Q2 FY25 growth slower, but India still fastest-growing: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said the second quarter of this financial year was a "challenging quarter" for India and most of the world economies when it comes to economic growth. However, says the FM, India's GDP growth rate has averaged 8.3% in the last 3 years, which is outstanding.

"The real growth rate for quarter 1 and quarter 2 of this financial year 2024-25 has been 6.7% and 5.4%, respectively. At 5.4%, the Q2 rate is slower than expected. Many members observed it, many members commented on it, many members raised a doubt saying is growth sustainable at all at the number that we projected in the Budget Estimates (BE)," says the FM.

The Finance Minister adds: "I don't want to judge myself, I don't want to judge the ministry but this is a number before us and this is a number which you can see, compare it with the rest of the globe and this number is an outstanding number by global standards." Notably, despite slow growth in Q2 FY25, India remains the fastest-growing major economy in the world.