CMIE ups fiscal 2008 GDP forecast to 9 per cent

14 August 2007

Mumbai: The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has revised upwards India''s growth forecast to 9 per cent in fiscal 2007-08 from 8.5 per cent earlier, following robust growth in services and industrial sectors.

CMIE said it expects industry to rise 9.6 per cent and services sector to grow 10.7 per cent in the fiscal year that began in April.

The pace of expansion in industrial growth was sustainable as it was broadbased, covering not only capital goods and consumer durables but also intermediate goods, CMIE said.

Investment demand, CMIE noted, continued to remain buoyant, with capital investments worth Rs4,700,000 crore on hand as of end-June.

CMIE also revised upwards its agriculture output growth estimate to 3.1 per cent from 3 per cent, as the area under cultivation has risen sharply and the progress of monsoon was satisfactory.