Indian economy to grow 5.9% in 2012-13: UN agency report

NEW DELHI: India is expected to see a slower economic growth of 5.9 per cent in the current fiscal even as there are reasons to believe the " economy has turned the corner", an United Nations agency report said today.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) said ndia's growth has been slowing down since 2011, mainly on account of "severe" monetary tightening by the Reserve Bank of India.

"India is projected to grow at 5.9 per cent in 2012-13 compared with 6.5 per cent in 2011-12," UN ESCAP said in the report titled 'South and South-West Asia Development Report 2012-13'.

Projecting a GDP growth of 6.8 per cent for 2013-14, it said there are reasons to believe the economy has turned the corner.

"Firstly, in September 2012, the government signalled its determination to pursue pending economic reforms including FDI in multi-brand retail and civil aviation and the partial phasing out of fuel subsidies," it noted.

Further, the report said this year's monsoon season was not as weak as initially feared.

The Indian economy has been slowing down since 2011, after clocking over 8 per cent average growth in the previous three years.