Indian economy grows 4.7% in October-December quarter

The Indian economy grew 4.7% in the third quarter of this financial year mainly due to improved performance in the agriculture and services sectors. 

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded 4.8% in the July-September quarter and 4.4% in April-June. 

Growth in the first nine months (April-December) was 4.6 % compared with 4.5% in the same period a year ago. 

The economy had expanded 4.4 % in the third quarter of 2012-13, according to official data released here today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). 

Given the performance in the first nine months and GDP growth of 4.9% projected by the CSO in its advance estimates for this financial year, the economy must expand 5.7% in the fourth quarter ending March. 

Farm sector output expanded 3.6 % in October-December compared with 0.8 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. The sector grew 3.6 % in April-December. 

The manufacturing sector declined 1.9 % in the third quarter as against a growth of 2.5 % a year ago. The output of the sector contracted 0.7 % in the first nine months. 

Growth in electricity, gas and water supply was 5 % compared with 2.6 % a year earlier and it touched 5.5 % in the April-December period. 

The construction sector expanded 0.6% as against 1 % in the year-ago period. During April-December, the sector grew 2.5 %.