The leading credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings today has slashed India's economic growth projections to 0.8 per cent in the current fiscal saying an unparalleled global recession was underway due to disruptions caused by the outbreak of Corona virus pandemic and resultant lockdowns.  

In its Global Economic Outlook, Fitch Ratings said India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will slip to 0.8 per cent for the year April 2020 to March 2021 as compared to an estimated 4.9 per cent growth in the previous fiscal. Growth is, however, expected to rebound to 6.7 per cent in 2021-22.

Fitch said, the slump in growth was mainly due to a projected fall in consumer spending and contraction in fixed investment. The agency has further made large cuts to global GDP forecasts in its latest Global Economic Outlook (GEO) in response to Corona virus-related lockdown extensions and incoming data flows.

Chief Economist Brian Coulton at Fitch Ratings said that World GDP is now expected to fall by 3.9 per cent in 2020, a recession of unprecedented depth in the post-war period and this would be twice as severe as the 2009 recession. Further, the rating agency said, no  country or region has been spared from the devastating economic impact of the global pandemic.