Private consumption makes up more than half of India’s economy. First quarter figure for private final consumption is 11.9% lower than FY20 level and 5.2% lower than FY19 level. Fixed investment in comparison to FY20 levels is 17% lower and 6.1% lower compared to FY19 levels. “Only on government expenditure, we are higher than FY20 and FY19 levels. And in that too, the margin is not very large. For the first quarter has fallen by 4.8% but has gone up by 7.4% in comparison to FY20 levels and 9.3% up by FY19 levels. Looking at all this, it gives an indication that consumption growth is likely to remain sluggish in the near term also,” Devendra Kumar Pant, chief economist, India Ratings and Research said.