India’s GDP contraction should alarm everyone: Raghuram Rajan

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ A week after India reported a significant contraction in its GDP during the April-June quarter of 2020-21 fiscal, former Reserve Bank Governor and noted economist Raghuram Rajan has said that the negative GDP growth numbers should alarm everyone.

Emphasising on the importance of government relief or support in the given scenario, he pointed out that it is “meagre” so far. In a note published on LinkedIn, he also opined that the 23.9 per cent contraction in the GDP during the Q1 would be “even worse if the damage to the informal sector is taken into account”.

“The recently released quarterly GDP growth numbers for the first quarter of FY2020-21 should alarm us all. The 23.9 per cent contraction in India (and the numbers will probably be worse when we get estimates of the damage in the informal sector) compares with a drop of 12.4 per cent in Italy and 9.5 per cent in the United States, two of the most Covid-affected advanced countries,” Rajan said.