External Sector
- The current account deficit has declined to reach about 0.3% of GDP in the first half of fiscal year 2017.
- During April-December, 2016, trade deficit declined by 23.5% over corresponding period of previous year as contraction in imports were quite higher than fall in exports.
- During October-December, 2016, both exports and imports grew at the rate of 5%, starting a long-awaited recovery.
- During 2016-17 (April-December) imports declined by 7.4% to $ 275.4 billion compared to the corresponding period of previous year.
- Net private remittances declined $ 4.5 billion in the first-half of 2016-17 compared to the same period of 2015- 16 on account of oil price decline affecting inflows from the Gulf region.
Sectorwise Performance
Agriculture
- The growth rate for the agriculture and allied sectors is estimated to be 4.1% for 2016-17.
- The production of Kharif food-grains during 2016-17 is estimated at 135.0 million tonnes compared to 124.1 million tonnes in 2015-16.
- The area sown under kharif and rabi crops during 2016- 17 was 3.5% and 5.9% higher respectively compared to 2015-16.
- During the South West Monsoon Season .(June-September) of 2016 the country as a whole received rainfall which was 97% of its Long Period Average (LPA).
- The stock of food-grains (Rice and Wheat) was 43.5 million tonnes as on December 1, 2016 compared to 50.5 million tonnes as on December 1,2015 vis-a-vis the buffer stock norm of 30.77 million tonnes as on October 1, 2015.
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Industries, Corporate and Infrastructure Sector
- Growth rate of industrial sector is estimated to moderate to 5.2% in 2016-17 from 7.4% last fiscal.
- During April-November, 2016, a modest growth of 0.4% has been observed in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) due to strong growth in electricity generation offset by moderation in mining and manufacturing.
- The eight core infrastructure supportive industries, viz. coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilers, steel, cement and electricity that have a total weight of nearly 38% in the IIP, registered a cumulative growth of 4.9% during April-November, 2016-17 as compared to 2.5% during April-November, 2015-16.
- The performance of corporate sector (as reported by RBI in January, 2017) highlighted that the growth in sales was 1.9% in Q2 of 2016-17 as compared to near stagnant growth of 0.1% in Ql of 2016-17. The growth of operating profits decelerated to 5.5% in Q2 of 2016-17 from 9.6% in the previous quarter. Growth in net profits registered a remarkable growth of 16.0% in Q2 of 2016-17, as compared to 11.2% in Q1 of 2016-17.
- Many new initiatives taken by the government in the form of Make-in-India, Invest India, Startup India and e-biz Mission Mode Project under the national e-governance plan are facilitating investment and ease of doing business in the country.
Services Sector
- The Services sector is projected to grow at 8.8% in 2016-17, similar to 2015-16.
- As per World Trade Organisation (WTO) dm India’s commercial services exports increased from $ 51.9 billion in 2005 to $ 155.3 billion in 2015, taking its share in global services exports to 3.3% in 2015 from 3.1% in 2014.
- In terms of growth in tourism sector, during January to December, 2016, Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) were 8.9 million with growth of 10.7% and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) were at $ 23.1 billion with a growth of 9.8%.
