India sees firming economic growth, says OECD

India is witnessing firming economic growth while most of the developed economies are seeing mixed trends, according to Paris-based think tank OECD.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said there is diverging patterns among the major emerging economies with tentative signs of stabilisation in China and Brazil.

The assessment is based on Composite Leading Indicators (CLIs) that are designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend.

India’s CLI inched up to 100.4 in November from 100.2 in October.

“Amongst the major emerging economies, the CLIs for China and Brazil confirm the tentative signs of stabilisation flagged in last month’s assessment.

“In Russia, the CLI anticipates growth losing momentum while the CLI for India signals firming growth,” OECD said in a statement today.

The think tank noted that CLIs continue to point to stable growth momentum in the OECD area as a whole but to diverging patterns across major emerging economies.

India had surpassed China as the world’s fastest growing economy in 2015.

Earlier this month, India’s Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian said India has emerged as the world’s fastest growing economy notwithstanding global demand slowdown and four droughts.

In its mid-year economic analysis released last month, Finance Ministry had lowered the GDP growth forecast to 7-7.5 per cent for the current fiscal ending March 2016, from 8.1-8.5 per cent projected in the Economic Survey released in February 2015.

Meanwhile, OECD said the outlook is for stable growth momentum in the euro area as a whole, particularly in Germany and Italy, as well as in Canada and Japan. In France, the CLI signals growth firming.

“In the United Kingdom and the United States, the CLIs point to easing growth, albeit from relative high levels,” it added.