FE Editorial : Waiting for the bottom

With bank credit to the commercial sector growing just 5.3% (year to date) at the beginning of November as compared to even the low 6.5% last year, the September GDP numbers come as no surprise. At 5.3%, the growth is lower than June’s 5.5% and much lower than September 2011’s 6.7%. Indeed, if there are some positive surprises, it is the sharp rebound in manufacturing, from 0.2% in Q1 to 0.8% in Q2 (2.9% in Q2 last year)—though it has to be said the 1.2% industry growth shown by the GDP numbers is in sharp contrast to the 0.6% that the IIP numbers show for the same Q2. Agriculture clocking a 1.2% growth, though lower than the 2.9% in the previous quarter, comes as an equally big surprise given the drought, but that will presumably get reflected in the Q3 data—the CSO press release says production of rice is expected to fall 6.5% this kharif, coarse cereals by 18.4%, pulses by 14.5% and oilseeds by 9.6%. Looking at GDP data from the expenditure side is never a great idea since it gives you a 2.8% increase in Q2 GDP (even if you take into account the discrepancies, you get a 3.2% growth) which is far lower than the 5.3% growth you get from the production-side data—even the low indirect tax collections don’t explain the differences. But for what it’s worth, there has been a smart recovery in gross

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