Q2 GDP data evokes mixed reactions from experts

Q2 GDP slows marginally at 5.3%

India's economy grew slowed marginally to 5.3% in the quarter ending in September 2012, against 5.5% in the previous quarter.

Here is what the experts have to say about the data released by the government today:

Robert Prior-Wandesforde, Credit Suisse, Singapore

"Today's number suggests that the economy still remains soft, but not as weak as some people were anticipating. Growth below 5% looks very unlikely to me.

"The growth is bottoming and we will see an improvement from here, though not a very strong improvement.

"The growth is below the Reserve Bank of India's trend growth expectation, and I think the central bank will cut rates further from here. I expect a repo rate cut in January and there could possibly be another cash reserve ratio cut in December."

Rahul Bajoria, Barclays Capital, Singapore

"There is some minor improvement in manufacturing sector but it is still scraping the surface while services sector still looks weak. The underlying momentum for growth is still weak in India. Government spending is fairly a big part helping support the momentum. There could be some realignment in expectations at the margin for those who were expecting a sharp slowdown in growth. I don't think this print will change RBI's views as it is flattish from the previous quarter and should be within RBI's expectation. We expect GDP for December quarter to be around 5.5-6.0% and in March at 6.0-6.5%."

A Prasanna, ICICI Securities

"From the RBI perspective, this number should not make much difference because the central bank's full-year estimate is similar to this. Also, this data is two months old and the RBI will be looking at current trends. The sentiment has improved, we need to see whether the industrial production data also shows improvement.

"I don't think the RBI has completely disregarded the weakness in growth, but we need to see the next two inflation readings. If inflation peaks out below the RBI's estimate and the trend of lower inflation continues, chances of a rate cut go up in January. But at this point we expect the RBI to cut rates by 25 basis points in March."