Attributing the decline in second quarter GDP to slowdown in investment, the Plan panel today said the economy would rebound during January-March but the growth rate this fiscal would be 7-7.5 per cent.
“My expectation is that it (GDP growth) may end up being about the same in third quarter (October-December) and perhaps in the fourth quarter it will improve. The growth rate is going to be between 7-7.5 per cent this fiscal,” the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, told reporters here today.
The economy grew 8.5 per cent in 2010-11 and according to the Reserve Bank projection, the growth rate in the current fiscal would slow down to 7.6 per cent.
India’s economy grew just 6.9 per cent in the July-September quarter this fiscal compared with 8.4 per cent in the same period last year, as per the data released here today by the government.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the first half (April-September) of 2011-12 has moderated to 7.3 per cent from 8.6 per cent in the first six months of 2010-11.
Mr Ahluwalia said: “We should definitely try for rebound in the next fiscal. The key to that rebound is getting investment back on track, particularly in infrastructure.
“We are not focusing on current year in the Planning Commission...it is a year of slow (down)...we know that.”
On the poor performance of the mining sector, which declined by 2.9 per cent during the quarter ending September against a growth of 8 per cent in the July-September quarter of the previous fiscal, he said: “We are reviewing with Coal India, what could be done to improve production. I am sure something will come out of this.”