New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS): India has officially exited the technical recession phase that was brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Accordingly, official data on Friday showed that the country's Q3FY21 GDP grew by 0.4 per cent. Though not comparable, the GDP had grown by 3.3 per cent in the corresponding quarter of FY2019-20.

India had entered technical recession after its GDP consistently remained in the negative output territory for two subsequent quarters. Notably, the Q2FY21 GDP on a year-on-year basis had contracted by 7.3 per cent from (-)24.4 per cent in the preceding quarter.

The economy was hit hard last year by the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19. As such, mobility restrictions mandated under the lockdown led to the contraction at this scale.

It was only on June 1 that the partial unlock measures were implemented.

As per the National Statistical Office (NSO), the growth in GDP during 2020-21 is estimated to contract by 8 per cent as compared to a growth of 4 per cent in 2019-20.

"The real GDP or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant (2011-12) prices in the year 2020-21 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 134.09 lakh crore, as against the 'First Revised Estimate of GDP' for the year 2019-20 of Rs 145.69 lakh crore, released on January 29, 2021," the NSO said in its estimates of Q3FY21 GDP.

"The measures taken by the government to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic have had an impact on the economic activities," it said.

In terms of quarterly Gross Value Added (GVA), the NSO data showed a year-on-year rise of 1 per cent from (-)7.3 per cent in Q2FY21.

The GVA includes taxes, but excludes subsidies.