GDP grows at 7.9%, boosts mood for Modi govt

The Indian economy grew at 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015-16 taking the overall GDP growth to a five-year high of 7.6 per cent in the fiscal, mainly on account of the good performance of manufacturing and farm sectors.

According to the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the manufacturing sector during the fourth quarter recorded a growth rate of 9.3 % while the farm sector grew at 2.3 %.

The CSO has also revised the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for previous quarters of 2015-16 -- 7.5 % for April-June, 7.6 % for July-September and 7.2 % for October-December.

The 7.6 % growth rate for 2015-16 is the same as projected by the CSO in its advance estimates of national income earlier in February this year.

As per the CSO data, GDP of the mining and quarrying segment grew by 8.6 % in the last quarter of 2015-16 whereas electricity, gas, water supply, and other utility services recorded a growth rate of 9.3 %. Similarly, the construction sector grew at 4.5 %, trade, hotels, transport and communication at 9.9 %, financial, real estate and professional services at 9.1 %, and public administration, defence and other services at 6.4 % in the fourth quarter of 2015-16.-PTI