Domestic rating agency Icra Ratings expects the technical recession in the country’s economy to end in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal, limiting the contraction in the GDP to 7.8 per cent in the financial year 2021.
In the second quarter of financial year 2021, GDP contracted 7.5 per cent as against a decline of 23.9 per cent in the April-June quarter.
With a steady performance of the agricultural sector and a lagged recovery in the contact-intensive parts of the services sector, the agency forecasts a small contraction of one per cent in the Indian GDP in the third quarter of financial year 2021.
The rating agency’s Principal economist Aditi Nayar said healthy procurement and a favourable outlook for the rabi season, as well as greater visibility of an approaching Covid-19 vaccine rollout, will strengthen demand and economic activity in the fourth quarter of financial year 2021.
4G spectrum sale cleared, reserve price lower than TRAI advice
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday, Dec 16,  approved the sale of 2251.25 MHz of spectrum across seven frequency bands at a reserve price of Rs 3.92 lakh crore.
These auctions are only for 4G services, as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is yet to finalize the spectrum bands for auction of 5G spectrum.
The notice inviting applications from telecom service providers will be issued later this month, and the government hopes to complete the sale by March 2021, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The new round of auctions is likely to provide a boost to government revenue collections.