Economy

Thursday's data also meant consumer inflation came in below the Reserve Bank of India's medium-term target of 4 per cent for the thirteenth month in a row.

Trade deficit during the month shrank significantly to $13.43 billion from $18.63 billion in July 2018 as imports contracted 10.43 per cent to $39.76 billion.

Talks are ongoing to negotiate the China-initiated Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Piyush Goyal said.

Covering nearly half of the globe's population, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was proclaimed "the world's biggest regional free trade deal" when talks started in 2012.

The project is expected to cost $60 billion, sources told Reuters at the time, but is still expected to be commissioned in 2025.

A task force is in the process of identifying the infrastructure projects to be funded, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Food prices, which account for nearly half of the inflation basket, have been rising largely due to the impact of inconsistent rainfall on crops.

Annual retail inflation in July was 3.15 per cent, down from an eight-month high of 3.18 per centin June.

The Budget had provisioned Rs 70,000 crore for PSB recapitalisation and last week a Rs 55,250-crore infusion was announced in several PSBs.

Slower economic growth has made it harder for the government to improve tax collections and the boost from the central bank and assets sale program are unlikely to be repeated.

Tax collections could fall by as much as Rs 1 lakh crore ($14 billion), or 4 per cent of $344 billion annual target, according to the report.

Country's economy grew at an annual rate of 5.0 per cent last quarter, its slowest in more than six years and significantly lower than 5.7 per cent predicted in a Reuters poll.

The states of Haryana and Gujarat, also manufacturing hubs, saw electricity requirement growing at a weaker 2.9 per centand 5.3 per cent compared with the previous year's 7.5 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively.

While the standard macroeconomic definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of shrinking GDP, a significant decline in economic activity spread across months is another often-used description.

There is significant potential opportunity for stressed-assets investors, given around Rs 9.4 lakh crore NPAs in the banking system as on March 31, 2019, the study said.