By Devayani Sathyan
BENGALURU- India’s economic growth likely moderated and grew at its slowest pace in a year in the April-June quarter due to lower government spending amid a national election that concluded in June, a Reuters poll found.
Growth in Asia’s third-largest economy had been well above 7 percent during previous quarters thanks to strong capital expenditure by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to secure a third term in the election.
However, holding back on public spending ahead of the parliamentary elections has hurt growth. While the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came back to power, it lost its outright majority in the lower house.
In the April-June quarter, gross domestic product (GDP) was forecast to have grown an annual 6.9 percent , down from 7.8 percent in the preceding quarter, the Aug. 19-26 poll of 52 economists showed. Forecasts ranged from 6.0 percent to 8.1 percent .
The government is scheduled to announce data for the April-June quarter on Friday.
