Terming the 5.5 per cent GDP growth as "good news", Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today expressed confidence that economy would rebound in subsequent quarters.
"The good news is that the quarterly growth rate has gone up from the 5.3 per cent in the last quarter (January-March) of previous financial year to 5.5 per cent in April-June quarter," he said.
However, Ahluwalia added that marginal improvement in the GDP growth cannot be called "strong rebound". "I didn't think that we would get strong rebound in the first quarter".
The economic growth, he added, would improve in the second quarter. "We did expect the rebound, so let us hope that in the second quarter, especially in the third, you will get the rebound."
As per the provisional GDP data released by the government on Friday, the economic growth in the first quarter (April-June) stood at 5.5 per cent.Although it was much lower than 8 per cent in the corresponding period
last fiscal, the growth showed improvement on sequential basis. The growth rate in January-March was 5.3 per cent.
On growth prospects in future, Ahluwalia said, "a lot will depend on what happens to investment in public and private sectors. Most likely in the second half of the year that investments will improve".
As regards the annual growth rate in 2012-13, he said, although Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) has projected 6.7 per cent, things would become clear by September 15.
Ahluwalia further said that growth figures for the last quarter (January-March 2011-12) could be revised upwards on account of difference in the IIP data and corporate reports.
"The most important thing is that whether investment is picking up. I have seen some analysis which suggests that it is quite possible that the growth rate in the fourth quarter of last fiscal may get revised upwards because there is a difference between IIP and corporate data.
"We will get better idea of it only two or three months from now", Ahluwalia said.
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"The good news is that the quarterly growth rate has gone up from the 5.3 per cent in the last quarter (January-March) of previous financial year to 5.5 per cent in April-June quarter," he said.