New
Delhi: The country's third quarter gross domestic
product (GDP) registered a 10.4 per cent year-on-year
growth.This is over and above the growth rates of 5.7
per cent and 8.4 per cent for the first and second quarters,
respectively.
The
cumulative average growth for April-December 2003 is 8.2
per cent, compared with 4.1 per cent for the corresponding
three quarters of the previous year. The 8.2 per cent
cumulative growth for April-December 2003 is also marginally
higher than the 8.1 per cent `advance estimate' for the
2003-04 fiscal as a whole, made by the Central Statistical
Organisation .
The
10.4 per cent growth has been driven by the agricultural
sector, which has expanded by 16.9 per cent, which had
come down by 9.8 per cent during the same quarter of the
previous fiscal year.
The
growth in the agricultural sector has been due to a good
monsoon, which has resulted in production of kharif rice,
coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds growing by 22.3 per
cent, 38.3 per cent, 32 per cent and 84.4 per cent, respectively
during the kharif season of 2003-04.
Manufacturing has recorded a growth of 6.5 per cent, over
and above 6.8 per cent for the third quarter of 2002-03.
Within industry, the manufacturing sub-sector has registered
a higher growth of 7.4 per cent (against 6.9 per cent
during October-December 2003). It is mainly the mining
and construction segments that have staged a slowdown.
The
services sector, which has grown by 7.6 per cent, 9.8
per cent
and 9 per cent, respectively during the first three quarters
of 2003-04, as against their corresponding levels of 7.2
per cent, 7.8 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.
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