Growth forecast may be downgraded: IMF

The institution had come out with an estimate in October and will be reviewing the same next month, she said at an event. A fall in consumption, lack of private investments and sluggish exports are being blamed for a slower GDP growth which slid to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent in Sept.

Gopinath said India is the only emerging market which has thrown a surprise of this kind.“If you look at recent incoming data, we would be revising our numbers and come up with numbers in January, and it is likely to be a significant downward revision for India,” she said, refusing to share a number or even mention if it would be under 5 pc. The IMF in its October forecast had projected 6.1 pc growth for India in 2019 and the same to go up to 7 pc in 2020. She also sounded doubtful about the country achieving $5 trillion GDP target by FY2025, and chose to present her case arithmetically.  The economist said India will have to grow at 10.5 pc in nominal terms as against 6 pc in the last six years, and 8-9 pc in real terms to achieve the target.