India's GDP is estimated to contract by 7.7 per cent during the current fiscal, said the Economic Survey 2020-21 on Friday. The document was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha. According to the survey, the real growth rate for FY22 was assumed at 11.5 per cent based on IMF estimates.

Contrary to expectations, the Indian economy will take at least two more years to return to the growth levels achieved in the pre-pandemic period, the Economic Survey 2020-21 said.

The projection on return of pre-pandemic growth is based on IMF projections of 11.5 per cent real GDP growth in 2021-22 and a 6.8 per cent growth in 2022-23. With these growth projections, Indians would once again return to become the fastest growing economy in the world.

The survey has projected that the country's real GDP in FY22 will grow by 11 per cent after an estimated contraction of 7.7 per cent during the current fiscal.

The survey said that Covid led to a once in a century global crisis in 2020. While the lockdown resulted in GDP contracting by 23.9 per cent in Q1 of FY21, the recovery has been V shaped thereafter, the survey noted.

(IANS)