New Delhi, Aug 30 (IANS) In what gives a clue to why the country's
largest biscuit selling firm Parle has seen volume of their Rs 5 pack
of glucose biscuits slowing, the agriculture and allied activities
fell sharply to 2 per cent in April-June quarter of current fiscal
compared to 5 per cent in the same quarter of FY19.
Most of the FMCG and automobile companies have seen significant drop
in sales. Tractor sales have also lost force and reported a
month-on-month decline.
The deep decline in the sectoral growth has taken heavy toll on rural
household incomes, which has been severely affected in recent years
due to back-to-back adverse weather.
"Quarterly GVA (gross value added) at basic prices for Q1 2019-20 from
'Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing' sector grew by 2 per cent as
compared to growth of 5.1 per cent in Q1 2018-19," the National
Statistical Office (NSO) said in its GDP estimate for Q1 said.
Crops, including fruits and vegetables, account for about 53 per cent,
livestock products 32 per cent and forestry & fisheries 15 per cent
share of GVA in 'Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing' sector.
Gross value added or GVA is the measure of the value of goods and
services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy.
The first quarter estimates are based on agricultural production
during Rabi season of 2018-19 (which ended in June 2019).
Economists and experts have pointed out that private consumption is
the mainstay of aggregate demand but it has come under severe pressure
in both rural and urban areas.
"While the reduced income growth of households has taken the sting out
of the urban consumption, drought/near-drought conditions in three of
the past five years coupled with collapse of food prices has taken a
heavy toll on rural consumption," India Rating and Research said a
report this week.
Aditi Nayar, Principal Economist at ICRA, said that unfavourable
temporal and spatial spread of the monsoon rains may affect kharif
yields and further dampen rural sentiment in the second half of the
calendar year 2019.
"The realisations from the kharif season and outlook for the rabi
crops would crucially affect rural sentiment in the remainder of
FY2020," she said.
Agriculture, forestry & fishing is one of the key sectors of the
economy and employs the largest number of working population in the
country.