But
growth was slower than the same quarter a year ago, when the economy
grew by 9.7 percent, said the FM, P.Chidambaram, while
making an announcement last Friday that the government revised up its
initial gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the fiscal year through
March to 9 % from 8.7 %.
The biggest gain was in the construction sector which grew by a solid
12.6 % in the fiscal fourth quarter. Trade, hotels and transport grew
12.4 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter.
But agriculture continued to lag behind growing only 2.9 percent, down
from 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
Mr. Chidambaram said corrective action would be taken to address the
slowdown in the manufacturing sector, which dropped
by 5.8% in the previous Jan-Mar quarter.
A cause of concern is the galloping inflation which has reached
an annual 8.1%, highest in the last 45 months. With petrol and diesel
costs expected to go up during the next couple of days, the rate can
only go up-editor |