Growth to pick up in Jan-Mar quarter: Basu

Terming the slowdown in the Indian economy as a temporary phenomenon, Indian Government's Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu on Friday exuded confidence that it will start accelerating towards the end of the current fiscal.

"Yes, we are going through a couple of months of slowdown ... I expect the economy to begin to do better even before the end of this fiscal year," Basu said at an event here.

India's economic growth rate slipped to 6.9 per cent in the second quarter this fiscal, the lowest in nine quarters.

It was 8.4 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said economic growth will moderate to about 7.5 per cent in the current fiscal, lower than the earlier projection of 9 per cent.

Slackening investments amidst high interest rate regime is seen as one of the major reasons for slowdown in economic activities in the country.

"The drop in investment that is occurring now, is it going to last for very long, I don't think so," he said.

Since there has been large investment in the country in the past, Basu said, adding, "This is a temporary downturn. I expect a pick-up, not a sharp pick, in the final quarter of this year so India should be growing much faster in the final quarter than the second quarter."

He said the full recovery will take a bit longer.

"If you look at the global scenario...6.9 per cent growth is actually a very good performance. We were doing better," he said.