From the Newsroom: Indian economy contracts 7.5% in Q2 of this fiscal

In your evening news brief, From the Newsroom, data shows Indian economy contracted by 7.5% in the July-September quarter of this fiscal; India's federal fiscal deficit in the seven months to end-October stood at Rs 9.53 lakh crore; farmers gathered at various entry points into the national capital allowed to hold a peaceful protest, and R Roshan Baig hospitalised.

Here is the top news of November 27, 2020:

The Indian economy contracted by 7.5 per cent in the July-September quarter of this fiscal amid the Covid-19 crisis, official data showed on Friday.

The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 4.4 per cent in the corresponding July-September period of 2019-20, according to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The economy had shrunk by an unprecedented 23.9 per cent in the first quarter of this fiscal due to the coronavirus pandemic and resultant lockdowns.

India's federal fiscal deficit in the seven months to end-October stood at Rs 9.53 lakh crore ($128.9 billion), or 126.7% of the budgeted target for the whole fiscal year, government data showed on Friday.

Net tax receipts were Rs 5.76 lakh crore, down 15.7% from a year ago, while total expenditure was Rs 16.6 lakh crore, the data showed.

The deficit is predicted to exceed 8% of GDP in the 2020/21 fiscal year that ends in March 2021, economists said, from initial government estimates of 3.5%, mainly due to a sharp economic contraction triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of farmers gathered at various entry points into the national capital were allowed in on Thursday to hold a peaceful protest at a north Delhi ground, defusing some of the tension building up since morning around the city’s edges and beyond.

The concession came after hours of a standoff that saw police using teargas shells, water cannons and multi-layer barriers to block the protesters and the farmers pelting stones and breaking barricades in some places in their determination to push through as part of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march against the Centre’s new farm laws.

Former Congress minister R Roshan Baig, who is in CBI custody in connection with the multi-crore I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) ponzi scam, has been hospitalised after he complained of chest pain and uneasiness, sources said on Friday.

According to sources in the CBI, Baig was rushed to the Jayadeva hospital after he developed health related complications on Thursday evening.

Hospital sources said the former minister had undergone an angiogram. Once he is discharged from the hospital, the investigation agency will once again take him in its custody, CBI sources said.

Source: DHNS / PTI/ Reuters