Ind-Ra pegs growth at 7.6% in Dec quarter

The country is expected to grow by 7.6 per cent in the October-December quarter of the current financial year -the fastest pace of expansion in five quarters - India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said on Friday.

"Growth may have ticked higher in third quarter by 7.6 per cent. The growth is likely to get support from a favourable base effect, as gross domestic product (GDP) in third quarter of last financial year grew by 6.6 per cent," Ind-Ra Chief Economist Devendra Pant said.

In current financial year, Indian economy grew by seven per cent in first quarter and 7.4 per cent in second quarter.

The official GDP data for the third quarter of the current year is scheduled to be released on Monday.

"Domestic demand witnessed during the festival season is expected to support growth in the third quarter, even as global headwinds have had an adverse impact on manufacturing and exports," Pant said.

He said investment has been muted due to low capacity utilisation in several manufacturing sectors, highly-leveraged balance sheets of infrastructure firms and stretched balance sheets of banks.