Skip to main content

India's agriculture growth slips to 4.5% in Q4 on higher base

By
India's agriculture growth slips to 4.5% in Q4 on higher base
For 2017-18, overall full year, growth in agriculture and allied activities was estimated at 3.4 per cent as against 6.3 per cent clocked in 2016-17
India’s agriculture growth in the January to March quarter of 2017-18 dipped to 4.5 per cent as compared to 7.1 per cent in the same period last year despite a bumper production largely because of higher base.
Though, the 4.5 per cent growth in agriculture and allied activities clocked during the fourth quarter of 2017-18 was highest in the year, but it wasn’t good enough to pull overall farm sector growth to over 4 per cent in 2017-18 full year.For 2017-18, overall full year, growth in agriculture and allied activities was estimated at 3.4 per cent as against 6.3 per cent clocked in 2016-17.Going forward, experts believed that if monsoon remains fairly normal in 2018 also, India might clock a 4 per cent growth in agriculture and allied activities.
Graph Gross Value Added For Agriculture and Allied “The third advance estimates of food grain production was 279.51 million tonnes in 2017-18 which is higher than the second advance estimates of food grain production during 2017-18 of 277.49 million tonnes and final estimates of 275.11 million tonnes during the agricultural year 2016-17,” an official statement said.
Meanwhile, the data showed that in current prices, the Gross Value Added (GVA) in agriculture and allied activities in 2017-18 was estimated at 4.5 per cent down from 11.6 per cent recorded during 2016-17. The sharp fall in GVA at current prices, also reflects the impact of inflation on farm goods which has seen a consistent fall since 2014-15 due to low farm-gate prices of oilseeds, pulses and cotton.
Falling farm gate prices has been one of major challenges for the Narendra Modi government in the last four years, which despite bumper harvest, farmers haven’t been able to reap in the benefits.The drop in prices of major oilseeds, pulses along with cash and horticulture crops has fueled widespread farmers’ agitation in several parts of the country in 2017. The foodgrains production jumped due to a largely normal monsoon in 2017.
The southwest monsoon in 2017 was 95 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA), which was slightly below normal. Though, the rains were deficient in around 20 per cent of the landmass, but it was largely normal in majority of the areas.“The slump in Q4 GVA numbers and also the full year figure for agriculture and allied activities is mainly due to base effect despite that any growth in agriculture which is in the range of 3-4 per cent is good enough,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist CARE Ratings.
He said drop in agriculture GVA at constant prices is reflective of the low prices that farmers are getting as inflation is in-built at current rate, but usually GVA at constant prices is a better management of growth.
The Business Standard, New Delhi, 1st June 2018

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RBI deputy governor cautions fintech platform lenders on privacy concerns during loan recovery

By
  India's digital lending infrastructure has made the loan sanctioning system online. Yet, loan recovery still needs a “feet on the street” approach, Swaminathan J, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said at a media event on Tuesday, September 2, according to news agency ANI.According to the ANI report, the deputy governor flagged that fintech operators in the digital lending segment are giving out loans to customers with poor credit profiles and later using aggressive recovery tactics.“While loan sanctioning and disbursement have become increasingly digital, effective collection and recovery still require a 'feet on the street' and empathetic approach. Many fintech platforms operate on a business model that involves extending small-value loans to customers often with poor credit profiles,” Swaminathan J said.   Fintech platforms' business models The central bank deputy governor highlighted that many fintech platforms' business models involve providing sm
Post a Comment
Read more

Credit card spending growth declines on RBI gaze, stress build-up

By
  Credit card spends have further slowed down to 16.6 per cent in the current financial year (FY25), following the Reserve Bank of India’s tightening of unsecured lending norms and rising delinquencies, and increased stress in the portfolio.Typically, during the festival season (September–December), credit card spends peak as several credit card-issuing banks offer discounts and cashbacks on e-commerce and other platforms. This is a reversal of trend in the past three financial years stretching to FY21 due to RBI’s restrictions.In the previous financial year (FY24), credit card spends rose by 27.8 per cent, but were low compared to FY23 which surged by 47.5 per cent. In FY22, the spending increased 54.1 per cent, according to data compiled by Macquarie Research.ICICI Bank recorded 4.4 per cent gross credit losses in its FY24 credit card portfolio as against 3.2 per cent year-on-year. SBI Cards’ credit losses in the segment stood at 7.4 per cent in FY24 and 6.2 per cent in FY23, the rep
Post a Comment
Read more

India can't rely on wealthy to drive growth: Ex-RBI Dy Guv Viral Acharya

By
  India can’t rely on wealthy individuals to drive growth and expect the overall economy to improve, Viral Acharya, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday.Acharya, who is the C V Starr Professor of Economics in the Department of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), said after the Covid-19 pandemic, rural consumption and investments have weakened.We can’t be pumping our growth through the rich and expect that the economy as a whole will do better,” he said while speaking at an event organised by Elara Capital here.f there has to be a trickle-down, it should have actually happened by now,” Acharya said, adding that when the rich keep getting wealthier and wealthier, they have a savings problem.   “The bank account keeps getting bigger, hence they look for financial assets to invest in. India is closed, so our money can't go outside India that easily. So, it has to chase the limited financial assets in the country and
Post a Comment
Read more