Growth weaker than headline numbers suggest: Rajan

Says weak corporate results show 'final demand is yet to pick up strongly'

India's growth rate may be weaker than headline numbers suggest and demand has yet to pick up strongly, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India said after the bank's policy meeting on Tuesday.

Official data last week showed Asia's third-largest economy grew 7.5% year-on-year in the previous quarter, outstripping China's 7% growth in the same quarter and beating a Reuters poll of economists who forecast 7.3%.
 

"Even with the 7.5% growth numbers, there is some discussion of how much that includes special factors in the last quarter, including excise taxes and subsidy. And so when you subtract that, the growth in the last quarter doesn't look as strong as before," Governor Raghuram Rajan said.

"And so, you could point to those numbers also suggesting growth is weaker than at least the headline numbers suggest."

Rajan also said weak results from India's corporates suggested "final demand is yet to pick up strongly".