Q2 growth to be lower than Q1: Kaushik Basu

KOLKATA: Economic growth in the second quarter will be lower than the 8.8 per cent expansion witnessed in the first quarter, Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said on Monday.

"Growth in the second quarter will not be as high as 8.8 per cent," Basu said at an interactive session organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, adding that it could be well below 8 per cent.

He predicted that the economy would register overall growth of 8.5 per cent in the 2010-11 financial year.

Basu said the good growth in the first quarter was largely on account of a lower base in the corresponding period of the previous year, whereas that was not the case in the second quarter.

Speaking about food inflation, he said the inflation data to be released on Thursday will likely report a 1 per cent drop from last week's level of 11.74 per cent.