The Centre is set to release the second advanced estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) for this fiscal on Friday along with the third-quarter figures for the economy, on which there is a broad consensus of the nation returning to the growth path after getting whacked by the coronavirus-induced lockdown in the first and the second quarters.

The economy had contracted 24 per cent in the first quarter and 7.5 per cent in the second quarter; for the whole year.

The government’s first advanced estimate has projected a contraction of 7.7 per cent and a 4.2 per cent contraction in the nominal gross domestic product.

Ahead of the forecast by the National Statistics Office (NSO), Moody’s projected a 13.7 growth in India’s real GDP in the next fiscal — up from 10.8 per cent estimated earlier, on the back of normalisation of activity and growing confidence in the market with the rollout of Covid-19 vaccine.

For the current financial year, the US-based rating agency expects the Indian economy to contract 7 per cent, lower than its previous estimate of 10.6 per cent contraction.

Moody's Investors Service associate managing director (sovereign risk) Gene Fang said reform implementation remains a challenge in India, and expressed uncertainty over revenue generation through CPSE privatisation announced in the Budget saying such “one-off monetisation policies are less durable in terms of supporting fiscal health for long term”.