Indian economy loses sheen compared to four months ago, shows Mint tracker

The Indian economy showed moderation in the 16-high frequency indicators tracked by Mint in July compared to their performance four months earlier. Only six indicators were above their five-year average trends, whereas three were below it. In comparison, 10 indicators were above their five-year average four months ago. However, India's economy still recorded a mild improvement from June.

The Mint macro tracker, which provides a monthly comprehensive report on the state of the economy, is based on trends in 16 high-frequency indicators. The tracker has been running since October 2018.

Also read: In charts: GDP growth disappoints in April-June, but “not a cause for alarm”

For each indicator, the value in each month is assigned a colour coding (red, amber and green) to denote where it lies relative to the five-year average (red denotes worse, amber denotes it is in line with the average range, and green denotes better).

While the overall economy has lost momentum compared to four months ago, the consumer economy segment is in much better shape now, with only one of the four indicators in red, compared to all four in March.

Also read: India’s core sector growth picks up in July

However, they have not been in green in at least a year, suggesting that there is more room for improvement in this segment. The producer economy and ease of living segments have been doing well for quite some time now.

Methodology note: While calculating the five-year average, data for some indicators for April-May 2020 and April-May 2021 have been removed to eliminate lockdown-induced skews in the trend. However, the five-year averages may still show high figures due to sustained base effect in several indicators in 2021 and 2022.

Monthly standings will get updated retrospectively as more data comes in.

For inflation, the red/green coding is reversed.