Rangarajan says 5.2 percent growth in Q4 achievable

The economy can grow an annual 5.2 percent in the quarter to end-March on higher farm output growth, the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council said on Friday.

C. Rangarajan also said he expects the economic growth to pick up to 5.5-6 percent in the fiscal year that begins on April 1.

Contracting industrial output and an investment slowdown dragged India’s economic growth to a worse-than-expected 4.7 percent in the three months to December, making it tougher for the economy to hit the government’s growth forecast of 4.9 percent in the fiscal year that ends in March.