The currency swap initiative’s GDP surprise

The second advance estimate of national income for 2016-17 and data for the December quarter, released by the government earlier this week, has surprised most analysts. The estimates put out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that the Indian economy expanded at a rate of 7%, year-on-year, in the third quarter of the current fiscal, and is expected to grow by 7.1% for the full year. The second advance estimate was keenly awaited as the first advance estimate, released in January, did not capture the impact of the government’s currency swap initiative on economic activity.