India slightly lowers 2013/14 growth f'cast to 4.9 pct y/y - govt

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The economy is expected to grow 4.9 percent in 2013/14, marginally lower than the finance ministry's estimate of a 5 percent growth, dragged down by a contraction in the manufacturing sector, a government statement said on Friday.

India's farm output is expected to grow 4.6 percent in the fiscal year to March 31, against 1.4 percent growth a year ago, while the manufacturing sector is seen contracting 0.2 percent compared with 1.1 percent growth in 2012/13, the statement released by the statistics ministry showed.

India's economic growth slowed to a decade low 4.5 percent in 2012/13 from 6.7 percent in the previous year, revised data from the statistics ministry showed last week.

Last year, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had projected an estimated GDP growth of 6.1-6.7 percent in 2013/14 in his annual budget, but lately lowered the estimates to around 5 percent.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Kumar Singh; editing by Malini Menon)