<div>India's economy grew at the slowest quarterly rate in at least four year as the growth slipped to 4.4 per cent in the April-June quarter of this fiscal, dragged down by a contraction in manufacturing and mining.<br /><br />Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast growth of 4.7 per cent. June's figure of 4.4 per cent was the slowest growth since the Jan-March quarter of 2009.<br /><br />The country's gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 5.4 per cent in the April-June quarter of the last fiscal.<br /><br />On a sequential basis, the growth rate declined from 4.8 per cent in the January-March period of 2012-13.<br /><br />Commenting on the data, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said, "Growth in the second quarter will improve and growth in the third and fourth quarters would be better."<br /><br />Mining and quarrying contracted by 2.8 per cent in the April-June quarter against a 0.4 per cent growth in the same period of the last fiscal, according to data released today by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).<br /><br />The manufacturing sector posted a contraction of 1.2 per cent as against a decline of 1 per cent in output a year earlier.<br /><br />Other sectors, including construction, power generation, hotels and transport, showed a marked deceleration in growth.<br /><br />Farm sector output expanded by 2.7 per cent in April-June compared with 2.9 per cent in the corresponding period of the last fiscal. <br /><br /><strong>Agriculture's Share In GDP Down To 13.7% In 2012-13</strong><br />The share of agriculture and allied sectors in India's GDP has declined to 13.7 per cent in 2012-13 due to shift from traditional agrarian economy to industry and service sectors, Parliament was informed today.<br /><br />"As per latest estimates released by Central Statistics Office (CSO) the share of agricultural products/Agriculture and Allied Sectors in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country was 51.9 per cent in 1950-51, which has now come down to 13.7 per cent in 2012-13 at 2004-05 prices," Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.<br /><br />The decrease in the share of Agricultural and Allied Sectors in GDP of the country in comparison to other sectors is on account of structural changes due to a shift from a traditional agrarian economy to industry and service dominated one, he added.<br /><br />"This phenomenon is generally expected in the normal development of an economy," Anwar said.<br /><br />In a separate query, the minister said despite a decline in the sector's contribution to GDP, foodgrain production and productivity has risen.<br /><br />"Despite this, the production of foodgrains has increased from 230.8 million tonnes in 2007-08 to 255.4 million tonnes in 2013-14 (fourth advance estimates)," Anwar added.<br /><br />Similarly, productivity of foodgrains has increased from 1,860 kg per hectare in 2007-08 to 2,125 kg a hectare in 2012-13 (fourth advance estimate), he said.<br /><br />(Agencies)</div>
