30-04-2025
At 6.2%, Delhi records slowest economic growth since 2021-22
Delhi's economic growth slowed down in financial year (FY) 2024-25, with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing by 6.2%, as compared to 9.16% in the previous year, the government's most recent estimates showed. This was the slowest growth recorded by the city since FY 2021-22.
The data is part of the Estimates of State Domestic Product 2024-25 released by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics recently.
This data is significant since the state Economic Survey, which provides insights into the Capital's financial health and is presented before the Budget, was not released this year.
The GDP, the total monetary value of all goods and services produced over a year, serves as a key indicator of the region's economic performance and growth. Advanced estimates are released before the end of a financial year. It is the government's forecast of how the economy will perform based on data gathered up to that period.
'Post-pandemic years saw higher growth because of the base effect… there was very low growth during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that the base effect is waning, we are seeing growth moderating. Due to inflation inching very high, people are also spending less on discretionary items,' said Paras Jasrai, Associate Director of India Ratings.
Delhi 's slowdown is in line with the slowdown India witnessed in the same period — India's growth rate also decelerated from 9.2% to 6.5% in a year.
The size of Delhi's economy grew to Rs 7.11 lakh crore last year from Rs 6.69 lakh crore in the previous year.
Delhi's per capita income is Rs 4.93 lakh, which grew at 7.32% last year, much slower than the 10.11% it grew at the year before that. In 2011-12, Delhi's per capita income was almost thrice the national average. However, over time, this gap has narrowed with the national average growing at a faster pace. Delhi's per capita income is now around two-and-a-half times higher than India's national average of Rs 2.05 lakh.
The deceleration of the growth is primarily driven by the secondary and tertiary sector, the report showed. The tertiary sector, which includes services such as transport, banking, hospitality, and tourism, among others, and contributes close to 85% of Delhi's economy, grew only at 6.5%, as compared to 8.8% the year before that.
This sector's growth slowed down the previous year as well, from a high of 10.27% in 2022-23. Within the tertiary sector – transport, storage and communications, and services incidental to transport – have fared particularly badly last year, with their growth rates halving.
Growth rate of real estate, ownership of dwellings and professional services, which contributes roughly 30% to Delhi's economy alone, has fallen from 13.3% to 6.2% in the past three financial years. 'After the pandemic, we saw many people buying houses as there was pent up demand. Now, we are seeing overall house sales growth moderating,' Jasrai said.
The secondary sector (primarily manufacturing and construction), which contributes roughly 13% to the economy, also witnessed a slowdown from 9.68% in FY 2023-24 to 5.32% in FY 2024-25. Electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services were the segment hit the hardest in the secondary sector, the report showed.
