AFP, New Delhi :
India’s economic growth slowed to 5.4 percent year-on-year in the September quarter, official data showed Friday, a significant decline from the 6.7 percent during the previous quarter.
Friday’s figure still places the world’s most populous country among the fastest-growing major economies globally, but suggests a moderation in breakneck expansion seen over the past year.
The data is likely to put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rates after holding them steady at 6.50 percent for more than 18 months.
The latest growth data could now spur the bank to start cutting rates this year.
Year-on-year gross domestic product came in much below most analyst estimates.
The Indian economy had expanded 6.7 percent year-on-year in the previous April-June quarter.
A government statement laid blame for the lower than expected growth figures on sluggish manufacturing and mining activity.
The moderation in economic growth is also unwelcome news for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which failed to secure an outright mandate in this year’s general elections, leaving it reliant on coalition parties to govern.
