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The Economy Observer
3 January 2017
Indian economy grew 5.6% YoY in November 2016
Low base helps investment post its first growth in five months
As per our monthly economic activity index (EAI), the Indian economy grew 5.6% YoY in November 2016 against 6.8%
YoY growth in October 2016 and only 4% YoY growth in November 2015. In the first eight months of FY17, India’s EAI
grew at an average of 6.5%, better than the 6% growth witnessed in the corresponding period last year.
In November 2016, while consumption continued to grow strongly at 8.4% YoY (following 10.5% YoY in October),
favorable base helped investment post its first growth in five months. However, with imports growing faster than
exports, higher trade deficit acted as a drag on economic growth.
India’s economic activity grew decently in November 2016…:
Our preliminary
estimates reveal that as against a growth of 6.8% YoY in
October 2016,
India’s
EAI grew 5.6% YoY in November 2016
(Exhibit 1).
It implies a growth of 6.5% YoY
in the first eight months of FY17, as against 6% growth witnessed in the
corresponding period last year. As we had detailed in our
earlier report,
our
composite EAI has a very strong correlation with official real GDP (excluding
discrepancies) growth
(Exhibit 2).
Since our composite EAI is arrived at using
three separate leading monthly indices for consumption, investment and trade,
it is important to look at these drivers of EAI
(Exhibit 3).
…as consumption continues to grow strongly…:
A look at the components of
our Motilal Oswal leading indicator (MOLI) for consumption reveals that a 29-
month high growth in passenger traffic (railways + aviation), 14-month high
growth in real rural wages, and reasonably strong growth in government’s
revenue spending, petrol consumption and production of consumer durables
helped consumption to grow 8.4% YoY in November 2016
(Exhibit 4),
following
double-digit growth in October 2016 (please see
Exhibit 7
for heat map).
…and investment posts first growth in five months:
Our MOLI for investment
shows ~2% YoY growth in November 2016, marking the first growth in five
months
(Exhibit 5).
In November 2016, 24-month high growth in cargo traffic, 7-
month high growth in power generation, and an expected growth of ~5% in
production of capital goods more than offset the 33-month worst decline in
auto sales, weak growth in construction and continued fall in capital goods
imports (please see
Exhibit 8
for heat map). Investment index shrank 2.5% YoY
in April-November 2016, as against a growth of 3.5% in the corresponding
period last year.
External trade acted as a drag in November 2016:
Finally, faster growth in
imports in November led to significant widening in trade deficit, which acted as
a drag on EAI for the first time in ten months
(Exhibit 6).
Note: Estimates of Economic Activity Index (EAI) for the month prior to the recently concluded month will be
released in the first two business days of every month. November EAI is released today.
Nikhil Gupta
(Nikhil.Gupta@MotilalOswal.com); +91 22 3982 5405
Investors are advised to refer through important disclosures made at the last page of the Research Report.
Motilal Oswal research is available on
www.motilaloswal.com/Institutional-Equities,
Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Factset and S&P Capital.