Two more institutions joined the growing list of analysts expecting sub-six per cent growth for India this financial year, with American banking major Citi and global brokerage CLSA on Wednesday cutting their estimates to 5.4 and 5.5 per cent, respectively.
“The stars just don’t seem to be aligning for India, with almost all the growth drivers being hit. The government needs to get down to serious business with more action to stem a further deceleration in growth,” a note from Citi said, adding it is scaling down its FY13 growth estimate to 5.4 per cent from the earlier 6.4 per cent. The report, authored by Citi India Chief Economist Rohini Malkani, further said if the drought conditions worsen, growth may slip further to 4.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, global brokerage CLSA cut its growth estimate to 5.5 per cent, from six per cent, saying, “the revised forecast assumes lower growth of zero per cent (from a “normal” three per cent) for the agriculture and allied sector.”