Indian economy grows blistering 8.4 percent in second quarter

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2003

NEW DELHI (AFP) — India's economy expanded by a blistering 8.4 percent in the second quarter, putting the South Asian nation into the ranks of the world's fastest-growing economies, official data showed.

The growth was driven by agriculture-dependent India's best monsoon in a decade.

It put Asia's third-largest economy firmly on track to achieving the government's growth target of seven percent for the year to March, economists said Wednesday.

"It's mainly the agriculture sector that helped. I expect growth to be around 7.0 to 7.5 percent for the full year," D.H. Panandikar, economist at the RPG Foundation in Delhi, said.

Agriculture grew by 7.4 percent in the second quarter, according to figures released by the Central Statistical Office.

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