Indian Economy - General Knowledge Questions

Correct Answer :   7%

* According to the Finance Ministry report, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7% in FY23 despite global headwinds.

* Retail inflation would moderate in line with wholesale inflation which fell to a 25-month low in January 2023.

* It will be supported by the gains from high services exports, the moderation in oil prices, and the recent fall in import-intensive consumption demand.

* The current account deficit (CAD) of India is estimated to fall in FY23 and FY24..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   5.53%

The government has taken various reforms following which asset quality of public sector banks has improved significantly with gross NPA ratio declining from the peak of 14.6 per cent in March 2018 to 5.53 per cent in December 2022, Parliament was informed on Monday (20th Mar 2023).

* All PSBs are in profit with aggregate profit being Rs 66,543 crore in 2021-22, and that further increased to Rs 70,167 crore in first nine months of current financial year (FY 23), Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

* At the same time, resilience has increased with provision coverage ratio of PSBs rising from 46 per cent to 89.9 per cent in December 2022, he said, adding capital adequacy ratio of PSBs improved significantly from 11.5 per cent in March 2015 to 14.5 per cent in December 2022.

* Total market cap of PSBs (excluding IDBI Bank, which was categorised as private sector bank in January 2019) increased from Rs 4.52 lakh crore in March 2018 to Rs 10.63 lakh crore in December 2022, he said.

* Karad also said banks, earlier placed under Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework by RBI, have made significant improvement..

Source : Economic Times

Correct Answer :   6%

India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to grow at 6 per cent in the upcoming financial year 2023-24, slower than the 7 per cent estimated for the current year 2022-23, according to CRISIL.

* ‘Rider in the Storm : Tracing India’s Growth in a Volatile World’ published Thursday (16th Mar 2023), the research and ratings agency said that “in fiscal 2024, the Indian economy will grow a tad slower, hemmed in by sluggish exports and the lagged impact of rate hikes manifesting fully”.

* However, it also said that corporate revenue would continue to grow in double digits, buoyed by strong domestic demand.

* On the inflation front, CRISIL predicts that retail inflation will average 5 per cent over 2023-24, lower than the 6.8 per cent it has averaged in 2022-23 so far. This lower estimate is based on the view that “lower commodity prices, expectation of softer food prices, cooling domestic demand, and base effect” will help moderate inflation...

Source : The Print

Correct Answer :   3.85%

Wholesale Price-based Inflation (WPI) for February 2023 eased to two year low of 3.85 percent against 4.73 percent recorded in preceding month.

* Decline in the WPI is primarily contributed by fall in prices of crude petroleum & natural gas, food products, electronic, chemicals and electrical equipment.
 
* In February, fuel and power rose 14.82 per cent as compared to 15.15 per cent in January 2023 and food index stood at 2.76 per cent against 2.95 per cent in preceding month.
 
* WPI is in line with retail inflation data released yesterday which showed that annual retail inflation (CPI) eased to 6.44 per cent in February 2023, helped by a fall in the price of food items...

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   6.44%

According to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), India's retail inflation has lowered to 6.44% in February 2023 from 6.52% in January 2023.

But it remained above the upper band of the 4+/- 2 percent medium-term target of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the second consecutive month.

While food inflation eased marginally to 5.95 percent in February 2023 from 6% in January 2023, inflation for cereals, milk, and fruits picked up..

Source : Indian Express

Correct Answer :   Rs 1,49,577 Crore

The gross goods and service tax (GST) revenue collection in the month of February 2023 stood at Rs 1,49,577 crore, up around 12% on an annual basis.

* The monthly GST revenues remained over Rs 1.4 lakh crore for 12 straight months in a row, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday (1st March 2023).

* India's GST revenue in February 2022 was Rs 1,33,026 crore.

* Of the total revenue collected, CGST is Rs 27,662 crore, SGST is Rs 34,915 crore, IGST is Rs 75,069 crore (including ₹35,689 crore collected on import of goods) while cess is Rs 11,931 crore (including Rs 792 crore collected on import of goods)..

Source : Economic Times

Correct Answer :   5.5%

* Global rating firm Moody’s Investors Services on Wednesday (1st Mar 2023) raised India’s growth projection to 5.5 per cent in 2023, up from the earlier projection of 4.8 per cent in November 2022, and to 6.5 per cent in 2024.

* India’s growth rate in 2023 is the highest among G20 countries, according to Moody’s projection. It’s followed by China with 5 per cent growth and Indonesia 4.8 per cent.

* The US is expected to grow by 0.9 per cent, the Euro area by 0.5 per cent, Japan 1.5 per cent and the UK by -0.4 per cent.

* According to government data released on Tuesday(28th Feb 2023), India’s GDP growth declined to 4.4 per cent in the December 2022 quarter as against 6.3 per cent growth in the September 2022 quarter.

* The rating firm also expects further rate hikes in the US totalling 50 basis points to 75 bps over the next two to three meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), taking the terminal rate up to as high as 5.25 per cent to 5.50 per cent.

* In the case of India, the upward revisions additionally incorporate the sharp increase in capital expenditure budget allocation to Rs 10 lakh crore (3.3 per cent of GDP) for fiscal year 2023-24, up from Rs 7.5 lakh crore for the fiscal year ending in March 2023, according to Moody’s..

Source : Indian Express

Correct Answer :   4.4%

India's Gross Domestic Production (GDP) registered a growth of 4.4% in the October-December third quarter of the current fiscal (2022-2023).

* "GDP in the third quarter of 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 40.19 lakh crore, as against Rs 38.51 lakh crore in third quarter of 2021-22, showing a growth of 4.4 percent," the Union ministry of statistics said in a release.

* The 2022-23 fiscal, the real GDP is estimated to grow at 7 percent as compared to 9.1 percent in 2021-22, the ministry statement said. While Nominal GDP for the year is estimated to grow at 15.9 percent..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   $300 Billion

The country’s services exports are doing “extremely well” and going by the current trend these outbound shipments would register about 20 per cent growth in this fiscal (FY 2022 - 2023) and cross the USD 300 billion target despite global economic uncertainties, Commerce and Industry Minister "Piyush Goyal" has said.

* Minister Piyush Goyal further said that on the merchandise front also, exports are so far registering healthy growth despite the world being under recession, huge inflationary pressure, and overstocking of various commodities.

* With all these stress, where every global leader is talking of “very” tough times, India’s exports rose 9 per cent year-on-year during April-December 2022-23.

* During April-December 2022-23, overall exports rose 9 per cent to USD 332.76 billion while imports increased 24.96 per cent to USD 551.7 billion.

Widening Trade Deficit :

* Trade deficit during the nine-month period widened to USD 218.94 billion as against USD 136.45 billion in April-December 2021-22. In last fiscal year, the country’s merchandise shipments touched an all-time high of USD 422 billion.

* India’s exports contracted 12.2 per cent to USD 34.48 billion in December 2022, mainly due to global headwinds, and the trade deficit widened to USD 23.76 billion during the same period. The minister said individual months have seen some ups and downs, but overall the exports sector is doing well so far despite global economic uncertainties.

All time high Services Exports :

* According to the data of the commerce ministry, the estimated value of services export in April-December 2022 is USD 235.81 billion as compared to USD 184.65 billion in the year-ago period. In 2021-22, these exports touched an all-time high of USD 254 billion.

* IT and ITeS accounts for 40-45 per cent share in the exports. It is followed by travel and tourism, education, and financial services like banking, and accountancy.

* Developed countries are contributing maximum share in these exports, he said adding Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries holds huge potential to increase the exports....

Source : India Times

Correct Answer :   6.2%

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at 6.2% in FY24 as drivers of domestic demand remain intact amid fears of an impending slowdown, Morgan Stanley said in a research report released on Thursday (16th February 2023).

The report said that as the economy fully reopened in 2022 leading to a cyclical recovery in consumption, pickup in private capex with healthy balance sheets in the private corporate and financial sector, and acceleration in government capital spending, the world’s fifth largest economy will breach the consensus GDP growth figure of 6%.

“We believe that the key for sustained domestic demand is a pickup in capex, which will help create more jobs, thus leading to a virtuous cycle of more jobs leading to higher income, which will lead to higher saving, resulting in higher investment”, the report notes.

Earlier, the Union Budget for FY24 had projected nominal GDP growth at 10.5%, as the centre increased the capital investment outlay steeply for the third year in a row by 33% to Rs 10 trillion.

The Economic Survey for 2022-23 projected that India would witness a growth between 6-6.8% in FY24, depending on the trajectory of economic and geo-political developments globally.

The report also mentioned that the incoming high-frequency data on indicators like private consumption and investment reflected a moderation in the December quarter driven by base effect and shift in the festival calendar rather than a slowdown.

“Indeed, incoming data on high-frequency indicators have gained momentum both in YoY (year-on-year) and MoM (month-on-month) terms in January. The trend is thus encouraging after these indicators exhibited mixed signs, with some of them slowing in YoY terms in Q3 after peaking in Q2, driven by the impact of shift in festival dates on growth rates”, the report notes...

Source : Business Standard