The Hindu Business Line : GDP growth to touch 6.9 pc in 2004-05

THE country's economy is slated to grow by 6.9 per cent during the current fiscal, which comes on top of the 8.5 per cent increase registered in 2003-04.

As per the `advance estimates' of national income, released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) here today, the 6.91 per cent growth in the country's gross domestic product during 2004-05 would be propelled mainly by industry and services. While the industry is estimated to grow by 7.8 per cent (against 6.6 per cent in 2003-04), the growth rate for services is marginally lower (8.9 per cent versus 9.1 per cent).

The buoyancy is these two sectors would, to a great extent, offset the uninspiring performance of agriculture in a year where the monsoon has played truant, leading to a sharp decline in overall farm production growth, from 9.6 per cent in 2003-04 to 1.1 per cent in 2004-05.

The resilience seen in industry and services has been particularly pronounced in the case of the `manufacturing' and `trade, hotels, transport and communication' sub-sectors, which are expected to grow by 8.9 per cent and 11.3 per cent this year, over and above their respective previous year levels of 6.9 per cent and 11.8 per cent.

This is clearly indicative of a genuine underlying growth momentum in the economy.

In fact, the last time when the economy experienced two or more consecutive high growth years was during the mid-1990s, when the overall GDP growth rate amounted to 7.3 per cent each in 1994-95 and 1995-96, followed by 7.8 per cent in 1996-97.

According to the CSO, the country's GDP at current market prices during 2004-05 would be Rs 31,08,561 crore or nearly $715 billion.

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