India’s economic growth outpaces China’s in 2nd quarter

The Indian economy grew at 7.3 percent in 2014-15 compared to 6.9 per cent in 2013-14, making it the second straight quarter during which it grew at a faster rate than that of China.
According to reports released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on May 29, the economy surged primarily due to the improvements in the performance of service as well as the manufacturing sector. Although the GDP growth saw a marginal surge during 2014-15, it was lower than the earlier estimated figure of 7.4 percent. The fourth quarter (January-March 2015) recorded the highest percentage growth at 7.5 percent, better than 6.6 percent recorded in the previous quarter.
The manufacturing sector showed better improvement in 2014-15, as it grew at 7.1 percent against 5.3 percent recorded in the year 2013-14. The output of electricity, gas, water supply and other utilities increased by 7.9 percent against 4.8 percent in the previous year.
However, the sectors which slipped further in their contribution included the farm sector, which grew at a meagre 0.2 percent compared to 3.7 percent last year, and the output of mining and quarrying sector grew at 2.4 per cent from 5.4 percent a year ago.
The manufacturing sector witnessed an impressive growth rate of 8.4 percent during the last quarter, up from 4.4 percent a year ago. The services sector, too, recorded a significant growth in the last quarter of the fiscal year 2014-15. But the agricultural and mining growth output continued to slip further in the last quarter of 2014-15.
On the whole, there is optimism among analysts, who feel that the increasing investments, speedier projects’ clearances and people’s high spending will further add to India’s economic growth.

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