Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Indian Economy Robust In Q3, Says RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the document ''Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments: Third Quarter Review 2007-08'' to serve as a backdrop to the Q3 review of the annual policy statement for 2007-08. According to the report, the Indian economy continued to exhibit robust growth during the second quarter (July-September) of 2007-08, though with some moderation. As per the estimates released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) in August 2007, real GDP growth was 8.9 per cent during the second quarter of 2007-08 as compared with 10.2 per cent during the same period in 2006-07.

While agriculture and allied activities recorded higher growth during the first half of 2007-08 over the corresponding period of the previous year, the growth of industrial and services sectors was somewhat lower than that during the first half of the previous year. During April-November 2007, the index of industrial production (IIP) rose by 9.2 per cent as compared with the increase of 10.9 per cent recorded during the corresponding period of the previous year.

The manufacturing sector registered a growth of 9.8 per cent during April-November 2007 as compared with 11.8 per cent during April-August 2006. Also, the infrastructure sector recorded a growth of six per cent as compared with 8.9 per cent a year ago, with all the sectors exhibiting growth rates lower than a year ago. The services sector continued to record double-digit growth (10.5 per cent) in April-September 2007. Leading indicators of service sector activity for April-October 2007 show that growth rates in revenue earning freight traffic of the railways, commercial vehicles production, new cell phone connections, passengers handled by civil aviation at domestic terminals, cement and steel moderated even though over a high base.

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