India's economic growth rate slackens
India's economic growth rate slowed down in the most recent quarter,
according to official figures.
The economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.7% in the three months to
December, down from 4.8% in the previous quarter. The figure was lower
than what analysts had been expecting. Asia's third-largest economy has
been weighed down by various factors, such as high inflation, a weak
currency and a drop in foreign investment.
 For the corresponding period in 2012, the annual GDP growth was 4.5%.
The figures aren't a surprise, but they do show how the slowdown has
cemented itself.
It is a rate the US and Europe can only dream of - but for a country
that once harboured aspirations of double-digit growth, this is pretty
bleak.
Manufacturing has been hit especially hard - over the past three
months factory output fell almost 2%. And that decline has a human face.
On an industrial estate on the outskirts of Delhi this week, a man
was hanging around in the hope of picking up casual work. He'd lost his
job as a temporary labourer and said people like him were being turned
away.
Job creation is a big worry for India with its large, young
population. It needs to grow much faster to generate enough employment
for its people.
With elections due in a couple of months - businesses and ordinary
citizens are eagerly watching - with hopes that if a strong government
comes to power, things could start turning around for this languishing
Asian giant. This is the fifth quarter in a row that India's annual
growth rate has been below the five percent mark.
Manufacturing was hardest hit - falling by 1.9% compared with the
previous year. The industry is considered one of the country's biggest
job creators. However, hotels, transport utilities and agriculture all
showed substantial growth.
“We continue to expect India's economic recovery to remain slow and
uneven. Local conditions remain challenging, which is critical as the
economy is driven primarily by domestic demand,” said Capital Economics
economist Miguel Chanco.
Two years ago, India's growth rate stood at about eight percent.
Economists say the country needs to grow by that much to generate enough
jobs for the 13 million people entering the workforce each year.
The BBC's Yogita Limaye in Mumbai said the numbers are not good news
for the ruling Congress Party, which faces elections in May.
“These figures show that the slowdown really cemented itself in 2013.
All four quarters showed growth below five percent,” she said.
“One silver lining (for the government) is inflation. Prices had
risen steeply in the beginning of the year but over the past two months
they have come down.”
More than half of the country's 1.2 billion people are under 25.
Chand Pandey is one of them. He lost his job at a car parts firm
recently and is struggling to find another one.
“Whichever company I go to, they say there's a slowdown and there's
less production,” he said.
“So they're not hiring any workers right now. It's been two or three
months that I've been looking for a job, but I get the same answer
everywhere.”
- BBC
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