India is set to publish its Quarterly figures amid anticipation of positive statistics and significant economic growth.

The Indian economy is expected to post improved growth when it releases its latest figures for the economy soon and Economists are pointing to the drivers being Manufacturing, the service industries and a boost in domestic demand. Economists say they are expecting better expected economic growth for the January to March quarter as they are expecting more than 5% growth. For the full year of fiscal 2023, Economists and even the Central Bank of India are expecting more than 7% growth to be recorded.

Now, such growth will put India as the fastest growing among the major economies around the world where most economies are slowing down in growth. Services and Manufacturing are the two sectors are the main contributing sectors that are expected to have contributed to that growth.

Yet, there is an underlying concern that continues to haunt India’s growth story and that is its uneven nature. Looking at the consumption data for utility Trains, smartphone sales and automobile and tricycle sales all show that the expensive products are selling but the cheaper mass-market products are not selling.

Therefore, the consumption story is an ongoing phenomenon as rural areas where two-thirds of where Indian lives is still seeing a very slow recovery in the entire demand picture, but broadly overall it is much better than what it was in the previous quarters and that is giving some sort of a support on charts. Even the Central Bank in its annual report highlighted that they expect growth to be resilient in the coming quarters but there are risks of exports slowing down and climate change risks also contributing to the possible downside.

However, there is a lot of optimism around India’s growth story and the fact that a 7% growth is expected is a positive sign, but it is vital to mention that these growth numbers still continue to be influenced by effects such as foreign contracting, building and infrastructural development which went on during the pandemic year. Thus, real growth in the economy will be slightly lower than what the numbers indicate, but looking forward there are positives and most notably the increased push towards capital expenditure seen by the government in recent budgets is likely to bring about economic efficiency and it is easy to see the increase in capital productivity in the Country. Of course, headwinds are expected because of the export reduction but consumption continues to be a strong support as both rural and public consumers are seeing a fair bit of recovery in the economy and as income levels rise.

The big structural issues exist as well with the new found status of India as the world’s most populous nation which prompted hopes of the youthful new engine of growth in the country just as China’s population is dwindling. Still the data shows grim unemployment figures as 40% of the population under the age of 25, but almost half of those at 45.8% are unemployed and this seems a sort of ticking time-bomb.