New Delhi: The revised estimates of national income for 2003-04 released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) yesterday. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 8.2 per cent in real terms, compared to 4 per cent during 2002-03.

Only on three occasions earlier has the GDP growth surpassed the 8 per cent mark - 8.1 per cent in 1967-68, 9 per cent in 1975-76 and 10.5 per cent in 1988-89. And on each of these occasions, the key driver was the farm sector recovering from drought-induced declines.

In 1967-68, agriculture grew by 14.9 per cent, having contracted by 1.4 per cent and 11 per cent during the preceding two years. In 1975-76, the 12.9 per cent agricultural growth followed a 1.5 per cent decline in the previous year, just as the 15.5 per cent growth in 1988-89 came after the - 1.3 per cent and - 0.6 per cent figures for the preceding two years.

Last fiscal, there had been a strong rebound in agriculture, which grew by 9.1 per cent after suffering a decline of 5.2 per cent in 2002-03.However, not all of the 8.2 per cent overall GDP growth recorded for 2003-04 can be attributed to the recovery from drought factor. The revised estimates show that the industry and services sectors have also performed better, registering growth rates of 6.7 per cent and 8.7 per cent during 2003-04, against their corresponding previous fiscal levels of 6.4 per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively.

The CSO has estimated the GDP of the country which is the sum total of all incomes generated from within its domestic territory, valued at market prices stood at Rs 27,72,194 crore during 2003-04.

The GDP at factor cost - which nets out all indirect taxes and explicit subsidies and, therefore, represents actual incomes `earned' - was estimated at Rs 25,23,872 crore.

The net domestic product (NDP) - GDP at factor cost minus depreciation of assets - amounted to Rs 22,64,427 crore.