First quarter GDP posts growth rate of 5.7%
New Delhi: The Indian economy has registered a robust gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 5.7 per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal, over and above the 5.3-per cent figure for the corresponding period of 2002-03. The cheerful fact is that the growth does not account for the impact of this year's bountiful monsoon. In fact, agriculture growth for April-June 2003 had dipped to 1.7 per cent from the previous year's corresponding level of 2.7 per cent.

The 1.7 per cent figure is largely reflective of last year's drought, said to have been the worst in the last three decades. Since the 2002-03 agricultural year extends from July 2002 to June 2003, the 1.7 per cent growth recorded by the farm sector during April-June 2003 basically captures last year's poor rabi harvest. Agriculture ministry officials say the output of rabi rice, wheat, coarse cereals and pulses fell by 30.9, 3.5, 13.2 and 10.2 per cent, respectively.
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