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Monday August 31, 11:20 AM
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Apr-June GDP up 6.1 pct from a year earlier
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's economy grew a slightly faster than expected 6.1 percent in the June quarter from a year earlier, as government stimulus measures helped spur demand, although a poor monsoon threatens to crimp growth later in the year even as it drives inflation.
The annual growth for India's fiscal first quarter was just above a median forecast of 6 percent in a Reuters poll, but lower than the year-ago quarter's 7.8 percent expansion.
The manufacturing sector expanded 3.4 percent in April-June from a year earlier, while farm output grew an annual 2.4 percent, government data showed on Monday.
For the full year, India's economy grew 6.7 percent in 2008/09, much slower than its expansion of 9 percent or more in the previous three years.
Economists have said poor monsoon rains could erode economic growth by 1 or 2 percentage points in the current fiscal year, although the central bank said last week that dry conditions are more likely to drive inflation than erode growth.
