Asian shares are trading on a negative note today. The Nikkei 225 is down 0.7% while the Hang Seng is down 1% and the Shanghai Composite is trading down by 0.9%.

Back home, India share markets opened the day marginally higher. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 126 points (up 0.3%) while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 22 points (up 0.2%). Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index, have opened the day up by 0.3%.

Sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with IT stocks, consumer durables stocks and capital goods stocks witnessing maximum buying interest.

The rupee is trading at 70.81 to the US dollar.

In the news from macroeconomic space, India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for the first quarter of fiscal year 2018-19 rose to a more than two-year high of 8.2%.

This compares to the GDP growth rate of 7.7% in the last quarter and 5.59% seen in the first quarter of the previous financial year.

As per the government data, the Indian economy grew 8.2% in April-June this year amid signs that households are buying more and company are adding capacities and thereby shrugging off the effects of demonetization and the goods and services tax (GST).

India also kept its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, ahead of China, which grew 6.7% in April-June 2018. At the current pace, India looks set to become the world’s fifth largest economy, ahead of the United Kingdom (UK).

In a piece published earlier, we wrote to you about the Indian GDP and how it was on the upswing. And as the above data shows, the growth momentum has continued.

India’s GDP Growth is Back on Track

We were in wait and watch mode but now, we believe, the revival in the economy is truly underway.

For example, capacity utilization is picking up. IIP and GDP numbers are improving. Indian corporates are getting back to their capex plans.