New Delhi, January 31: The estimated GDP growth rate for the financial year 2018-19 has been revised to 7.2 per cent, a day before the release of Interim Budget 2019. The revised estimates is nearly 0.5 percentage point higher than what the economy had clocked in the last fiscal.

The fresh estimates were released by the government's top think-tank - the NITI Aayog - on Thursday. The panel's vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said the GDP is expected to further accelerate in the near-future, adding that the "real economy is growing at 7 per cent". Eight Core Sector Growth Slows Down to 2.6 Per Cent in December 2018.

The GDP growth rate was predicted to improve in FY-2018-19 as compared to '17-18, as the last fiscal had witnessed the crippling impact of demonetisation, followed by the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in July last year, had predicted the economy to surge at 7.4 per cent this year. The numbers were, however, revised by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) earlier this month. The statistical body, in its report on January 7, claimed that the gross domestic product growth rate for this fiscal would be 7.2 per cent.

Shortly before the NITI Aayog released the revised GDP estimates today, a monthly report by CSO sparked concerns of stagnation in the core growth sectors.

The eight sectors of the economy, which form the core of the GDP, have clocked a growth of 2.6 per cent in December, 2018 vis-a-vis the same period in 2017. The decline came a month after the core growth in November struck a 16-month low, falling to 3.5 per cent.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 31, 2019 06:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).