IMF sees growth cooling to 6% in second half of FY17

India calls it 'unduly pessimistic'; Fund says cost of bank recapitalisation affordable

India’s economic growth would slow to about six per cent in the second half of this financial year (October-March) due to demonetisation, against 7.2 per cent in the first half, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday. 

India’s representative in IMF Subir Gokarn said the growth projections came at a time when hard data was unavailable. He described the assessment as “unduly pessimistic”. In the medium term, however, the IMF is hopeful that implementation of the Goods and Services Tax could raise India’s growth rate to more than eight per cent. 

The Fund said the cost of recapitalising public