Truant Monsoon Forces Growth Cut

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its mid-term credit policy today reduced the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the country for the current fiscal to 5-5.5 per cent against its earlier projection of 6-6.5 per cent.

In the April credit policy, the RBI had projected a GDP growth of 6.0 to 6.5 per cent for 2002-03, based on the assumption of a normal monsoon. According to the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) for the first quarter (April-June) of 2002-03, the estimate is at 6 per cent compared with 3.5 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year.