Indian economic growth nosedives to 5.3 pc in Q3

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) Hit by the global crisis, Indian
economic growth plummeted to 5.3 per cent in October-December
period, its lowest quarterly expansion in over five years,
which strengthened the demand for liberal monetary measures by
the apex bank to perk up the business confidence.

Despite a stimulus package by the central government, the
economic growth sharply declined from an impressive 8.9 per
cent in the same quarter last year.
The expansion fell by 3.6 percentage points mainly because
of negative growth in farm and manufacturing output.

Reacting to lower than expected growth in the economy,
the benchmark Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange plunged by
over 220 points at one point of time during the day before
recouping to end the day lower by nearly 63 points from its
previous close.

The dismal growth in the third quarter, it would be
difficult to register a projected 7.1 per cent growth for
entire fiscal. It also makes the expansion for the nine-month
period a disappointing 6.9 per cent.

To meet the projected rate, the economy has to grow at a
hectic pace above 7 per cent in the fourth quarter which the
experts said would be asking for too much given the global
economic downturn.

However, the government sounded confident of meeting
the 7.1 per cent growth target for the full fiscal.

"(The) third quarter was expected to be (the) worst of
all. Full year, I expect growth in the vicinity of 7 per cent.
I suppose we should be able to do better in the last quarter,"
Minister of State for Finance P K Bansal said here.

The slow pace of growth was attributed to slackening
demand across sectors, particularly consumer durables.

Today, Japanese car giant Honda announced putting on
hold indefinitely opening of its Rs 1,000-crore second plant
in India due to slowdown in the auto market. BSP MG
SAK
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