Budget 2013: Economic growth declines to 4.5% in October-December quarter

NEW DELHI: Economy grew by 4.5 per cent in the October-December period of the current financial year, pulled down by poor performance of farm, manufacturing and mining sectors.

The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 6 per cent in the same period of last fiscal . The economic growth in the first nine months of this fiscal (April-December) stood at 5 per cent, lower than 6.6 per cent in the year-ago period.

The economy had grown by 5.5 per cent and 5.3 per cent in the first quarter and the second quarter, respectively, of 2012-13.

In October-December 2012-13, manufacturing sector grew marginally by 2.5 per cent, against 0.7 per cent growth in the same period of 2011-12, according to data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) today.

Farm sector output expanded by just 1.1 per cent in the October-December period this fiscal, against 4.1 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal.

Mining and quarrying sector, however, showed some improvement and contracted by 1.4 per cent during the quarter, as against a decline in output by 2.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2011-12.

Trade, hotels, transport and communications segment also witnessed lower pace of growth at 5.1 per cent in the quarter against 6.9 per cent in the same quarter in year ago.

The growth rate of electricity, gas and water supply also dipped to 4.5 per cent in the third quarter, from 7.7 per cent witnessed in the same quarter of 2011-12.

Construction sector expanded by 5.8 per cent in Q3 of 2012-13, as against 6.9 per cent in the year-ago period.

Growth rate of services sector, including insurance and real estate, stood at 7.9 per cent in the third quarter, against 11.4 per cent in same quarter last fiscal.

According to the CSO data, during April-December period of this fiscal manufacturing sector grew by just 1.2 per cent against 3.6 per cent in the same period last fiscal.