Chidambaram pokes fun at BJP for celebrating GDP data

Congress leader P Chidambaram poked fun at the BJP on Saturday over the GDP growth data, saying it did not warrant any jubilation by the ruling party.

In a series of tweets, the former finance minister said that as expected, the GDP growth in the July-September quarter (Q2) of 2018-19 was a good one percent lower than in the April-June quarter (Q1).

"Q1 number was on a very low base in the previous year. It did not signify a bump in growth and did not warrant the jubilation of the BJP three months ago," he said.

Chidambaram said going forward, it was likely that the October-December (Q3) and January-March (Q4) quarters would register similar growth rates unless there were unexpected shocks.

"The new normal for the Indian economy is 7 percent and 2018-19 will be a normal year," he said.

India's economy grew at 7.1 per cent in the July-September quarter, lowest in three quarters, but still remained ahead of China to retain the tag of the world's fastest-growing major economy.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices (2011-12) had grown at 6.3 percent in the July-September quarter of the last fiscal, according to government data released Friday.

The size of the GDP in the second quarter of 2018-19 is estimated at Rs 33.98 lakh crore, as against Rs 31.72 lakh crore a year ago, showing a growth rate of 7.1 percent, according to a statement of the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The Indian economy grew at 8.2 percent in the April-June quarter of this fiscal.

The GDP growth was 7.7 percent in the January-March quarter.