Icra revises up FY22 GDP growth forecast to 9%

Icra said it expects the second half of the fiscal year to have brighter prospects.

Ratings agency Icra on Monday revised up its 2021-22 real GDP growth estimate for India to 9 per cent from the earlier 8.5 per cent.

A ramp-up in COVID-19 vaccination, healthy advance estimates of kharif (summer) crop and faster government spending were the factors that led to the revision, the agency said in a statement.

It can be noted that after the 7.3 per cent contraction in 2020-21, there were expectations of a higher growth number in 2021-22. However, the second wave of COVID-19 infections early into the fiscal year, which spread even in the hinterland, made analysts more circumspect. The RBI expects the economy to grow at 9.5 per cent.