India’s GDP to grow at 6.5 pc in 2025, robust 6.7 pc in 2026: ADB

New Delhi: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday said that India’s GDP growth is projected to grow at 6.5 per cent in 2025, and a robust 6.7 per cent in 2026, amid strong domestic demand, a normal monsoon and monetary easing in the country.

When it comes to inflation, the country is likely to clock 3.8 per cent inflation this year, followed by 4.0 per cent in 2026 — well within the reach of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) projections, ADB said in a statement.

In India, falling food inflation also helps contain headline inflation. Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation slid to 2.1 per cent in June, the lowest in 77 months, as food inflation turned negative.

India’s real GDP growth is projected to grow in a range of 6.4-6.7 per cent this fiscal, reinforcing the country’s position as the fastest-growing major economy in the world, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank lowered its growth forecasts for economies in developing Asia and the Pacific this year and next year. The downgrades are driven by expectations of reduced exports amid higher US tariffs and global trade uncertainty, as well as weaker domestic demand.

ADB forecasts the region’s economies will grow by 4.7 per cent this year, a 0.2 percentage point decline from the projection issued in April. The forecast for next year has been lowered to 4.6 per cent from 4.7 per cent, according to Asian Development Outlook (ADO) July 2025.

Prospects for developing Asia and the Pacific could be dented further by an escalation of US tariffs and trade tensions.

Other risks include conflicts and geopolitical tensions that could disrupt global supply chains and raise energy prices, and a worse-than-expected deterioration in the property market of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

“Asia and the Pacific have weathered an increasingly challenging external environment this year. But the economic outlook has weakened amid intensifying risks and global uncertainty,” said ADB Chief Economist Albert Park.

“Economies in the region should continue strengthening their fundamentals and promoting open trade and regional integration to support investment, employment, and growth,” Part mentioned.

Growth projections for the PRC, the region’s largest economy, are maintained at 4.7 per cent this year and 4.3 per cent next year. Economies in Southeast Asia will likely be hardest hit by worsened trade conditions and uncertainty. ADB now predicts the subregion’s economies will grow 4.2 per cent this year and 4.3 per cent next year, down roughly half a percentage point from April forecasts for each year.

IANS