In a way, the third quarter GDP number is released at a rather peculiar time in the year. One, it comes a good two months after the quarter has ended and two, any mystery with respect to the future — that is, any cues that could be extrapolated or trends that can be conjectured for the coming quarters — is taken away by the first advanced estimate which gives a number for the whole fiscal year and is released in January, a good 50 days ahead of the release of third quarter numbers.

But given the context of the sharp slowdown in the second quarter and the global uncertainty post Donald Trump, the third quarter numbers can be looked at in conjunction with the second advance estimates of GDP to glean a few trends. Note that the second quarter growth of 5.4 per cent was shocking and significantly lower than the 8.1 per cent growth recorded in the second quarter of the previous year and marked a seven-quarter low, falling short of both market expectations of 6.5 per cent and the Reserve Bank of India’s earlier estimate of 7 per cent.

So, the first and foremost question is — has the Indian economy turned the corner?

The answer from the set of numbers is yes. There is a rebound from the July-September quarter levels as growth has improved to 6.2 per cent from 5.6 per cent (revised upwards from 5.4 per cent). In comparison, growth in the third quarter of 2023-24 was 9.5 per cent. Even in GVA terms, there is........

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