Moody's sees India's GDP expanding 6-6.3% in Q1, flags fiscal slippage risk

Moody's on Sunday said the Indian economy is expected to clock a 6-6.3 per cent growth in June quarter, and flagged risks of fiscal slippage arising from weaker-than-expected government revenues in the current fiscal.

Moody's growth estimate is lower than the 8 per cent projection for the first quarter made by the Reserve Bank last week.

In an interview with PTI, Moody's Investors Service Associate Managing Director Gene Fang said India has a relatively high level of general government debt at around 81.8 per cent of GDP for 2022-23, and low debt affordability.

India, he said, has a high growth potential and its credit strengths include a stable domestic financing base for government debt, as well as a sound external position.

"We expect India's growth to come in around 6-6.3 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, which remains relatively flat from the 6.1 per cent recorded in the final quarter of fiscal 2022-23," Fang said.

While household demand is likely to s