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RBI flags need to arrest second wave of Covid-19, keeps growth rate projection for 2021-’22 at 10.5%
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday once again projected a 10.5% growth for India’s economy for the 2021-’22 financial year. In its annual report, the central bank said that the second wave of coronavirus pandemic has triggered “a raft of revisions to growth projections” and the consensus on growth rate was gravitating towards its predictions.
The central bank also said that while the Indian economy was hit by the second wave of the pandemic but remained resilient on the back of a bumper harvest in the Rabi farming season and momentum of activity in sectors like housing, road construction, freight transportation and information technology.
The RBI, however, added that India’s growth prospects essentially depended on how fast the country can arrest the second wave. “While the economy has not moderated to the extent during the first wave, the surrounding uncertainties can act as a deterrent in the immediate period,” the report noted.
While making the latest announcement on policy rates last month, the RBI had kept its growth projection for this financial year unchanged at 10.5%, despite flagging a risk to global demand due to the second wave. In the report released on Thursday, RBI projected India’s economy to grow by 26.2% in first quarter (April-June), and by 8.3%,…