Economic Growth Slips To Lowest In 4 Years

India's economy grew at the slowest quarterly rate in at least four year as the growth slipped to 4.4 per cent in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, dragged down by a contraction in manufacturing and mining.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast growth of 4.7 per cent. June's figure of 4.4 per cent was the slowest growth since the Jan-March quarter of 2009.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 5.4 per cent in the April-June quarter of the last fiscal.

On a sequential basis, the growth rate declined from 4.8 per cent in the January-March period of 2012-13.

Commenting on the data, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said, "Growth in the second quarter will improve and growth in the third and fourth quarters would be better."

Mining and quarrying contracted by 2.8 per cent in the April-June quarter against a 0.4 per cent growth in the same period of the last fiscal, according to data released today by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).

The manufacturing sector posted a contraction of 1.2 per cent as against a decline of 1 per cent in output a year earlier.

Other sectors, including construction, power generation, hotels and transport, showed a marked deceleration in growth.

Farm sector output expanded by 2.7 per cent in April-June compared with 2.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Agriculture's Share In GDP Down To 13.7% In 2012-13
The share of agriculture and allied sectors in India's GDP has declined to 13.7 per cent in 2012-13 due to shift from traditional agrarian economy to industry and service sectors, Parliament was informed today.

"As per latest estimates released by Central Statistics Office (CSO) the share of agricultural products/Agriculture and Allied Sectors in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country was 51.9 per cent in 1950-51, which has now come down to 13.7 per cent in 2012-13 at 2004-05 prices," Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The decrease in the share of Agricultural and Allied Sectors in GDP of the country in comparison to other sectors is on account of structural changes due to a shift from a traditional agrarian economy to industry and service dominated one, he added.

"This phenomenon is generally expected in the normal development of an economy," Anwar said.

In a separate query, the minister said despite a decline in the sector's contribution to GDP, foodgrain production and productivity has risen.

"Despite this, the production of foodgrains has increased from 230.8 million tonnes in 2007-08 to 255.4 million tonnes in 2013-14 (fourth advance estimates)," Anwar added.

Similarly, productivity of foodgrains has increased from 1,860 kg per hectare in 2007-08 to 2,125 kg a hectare in 2012-13 (fourth advance estimate), he said.

(Agencies)