NEW DELHI: Within hours of govt estimating strong growth during April-June quarter, private sector economists started raising projections for the full year, reflecting the sustained strong growth momentum in the economy.According to estimates from various economists, the Indian economy is expected to expand by 7- 7.3% during 2026-27 financial year, marking it the fourth successive year when growth will breach the 7% mark. This is higher than RBI’s 6.7% projection in its latest monetary policy review, although it had subsequently indicated that growth will be close to 7%.
On Monday, SBI raised its full year projections by 60 basis points (100 bps equal a percentage point) to 7.3%, expecting the momentum to sustain with high frequency indicators, such as industrial production, services activity, credit growth, investment spending and consumption seeing acceleration. It, however, expects growth to moderate to 7.2% in the current and next quarters and further slow to 6.9% in the March quarter. “The gradual moderation reflects normalisation from Q1’s strong base rather than a loss of underlying momentum, with domestic demand remaining the key growth anchor,” it said.HDFC Bank too revised upwards its growth forecast from 6.8% to 7.1%, with some moderation expected in the second half of the financial year, due to lower sequential momentum as compared to the last year. Credit ratings agency Crisil and CareEdge also revised their forecasts to 7% and 7.3% from 6.6% and 7% respectively.At a news conference, chief economic adviser V Anantha Nagewaran said the macroeconomic structural reforms, that have been implemented over the last 12 years, have enabled India to reap benefits in a very uncertain global environment, while cautioning against global headwinds. “There is concern with respect to the level of interest rates and potential disruptions on energy commodity supplies and also what will happen to food prices etc. There are multiple issues that are still in the air, as far as global affairs are concerned and at some point they may have an impact on the economic activity in the country,” he said.
