Indian economy likely to grow 6.9% this fiscal: Central Statistics Office

NEW DELHI: Country's economy is expected to increase 6.9 per cent in the current fiscal (2011-12), as per the advance estimates released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The CSO figures are lower than the assessments of 7-7.5 per cent pegged by various think tanks, policymakers and multilateral bodies. Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had trimmed its growth forecast to 7 per cent from 7.6 per cent earlier.

In the mid-year analysis of the economy, the Indian government has pegged the growth forecast at 7.5 per cent (+/- 0.25%).
In previous two fiscals i.e., 2009-10 and 2010-11, country's gross domestic product (GDP) increased 8.4 per cent.

Despite robust performance seen in the services sector, the anticipated slow growth in manufacturing, agriculture and construction sectors has prompted the CSO to forecast the GDP growth estimate at 6.9 per cent for 2011-12.

The agriculture sector is likely to grow 2.5 per cent as against 7 per cent in the previous year, 3.9 per cent growth has been pegged for manufacturing sector, lower than 7.6 per cent in 2010-11.