The Indian economy in the second quarter (July-September) expanded by 7.6 per cent, year-on-year, which surprised most analysts on the upside. Most economists were expecting growth to be around 7 per cent. However, at a Business Standard event in October, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das had said the gross domestic product (GDP) growth number for the second quarter would surprise on the upside. Nevertheless, the RBI retained its full-year growth projection at 6.5 per cent despite the higher than expected growth rate of 7.8 per cent in the first quarter. In terms of sectoral performance in the