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Days after National Statistical Office (NSO) in its second advance estimate maintained the growth projection of 7 per cent for current fiscal year (FY23), Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has expressed hope that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the current financial year will exceed the projected 7 per cent in view of the expected revision of high frequency data. Real GDP or GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 159.71 trillion as against the first revised estimate of GDP for the year 2021-22 of Rs 149.26 trillion.

Nageswaran said the rising interest rates need not necessarily be a cause of lower growth but simply reflects the fact that there is healthy underlying demand for credit. He said real interest rate is not very high at the moment, and added that there is pent up demand in certain sectors. Regarding rural inflation remaining high, he said it doesn't take into account the fact that bulk of the population may be getting their essential food grains at zero cost.

On the economic benefit of digitisation, he said that digital transactions enable increase in formalisation. He further said ‘My guesswork is that it is adding between 30 and 50 basis points per annum to the provisional GDP... Nobody has yet done the proper estimation of what the digital infrastructure is adding to the overall potential economic growth (and) that needs to be worked out’.