Indian growth to dip below 8 percent this year

Experts warned that the (heretofore) red hot Indian economy may dip below 8 percent growth this year, frustrating the hopes of the finance minister, after first quarter figures showed GDP rose just 7.7 percent.

The fresh data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on India's gross domestic product (GDP) presented a mixed bag for the Indian economy, with agriculture being the surprise, growing at a relatively higher rate of 3.9 percent, the Economic Times reported.

Earlier, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) had projected GDP to grow 8.2 percent in the current fiscal year, the paper said. But to reach that target for the year, the economy must grow at least 8.3 percent a quarter for the rest of the period — which ET quoted Rajiv Kumar, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, as saying was "unlikely."

Tuesday's data showed a sharp fall in the growth of construction and mining sectors, at 1.2 percent and 1.8 percent in the quarter ended June, from 7.7 percent and 7.4 percent, even as the growth in services such as transport and trade was higher at 12.8 percent, according to the Economic Times.