For the quarter ended March, 2012, the economy expanded at 5.3 per cent, again the slowest since 2002-03.
The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has revised the growth rate for 2011-12 to 6.5 per cent from 6.9 per cent estimated earlier.
The "disappointing" growth, as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee described it, comes after the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) registered a growth of 8.4 per cent for two consecutive fiscal years -- 2009-10 and 2010-11.
The data has also forced Chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) C Rangarajan to lower the outlook for the current fiscal to 6.5-7 per cent against the government projections of 7.5 per cent.
Industry was quick to demand a revival package from the government and easing of interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India which is scheduled to review the credit policy on June 18.
Within few hours of Mukherjee promising "all necessary steps" to check the economic slide, his ministry came out with a slew of austerity measures, including restrictions on foreign travel by the government functionaries and ban on creation of new posts.
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The HSBC headlined its India report as "A gasping elephant".
Throwing clear signs of slowdown continuing in the current fiscal, the growth rate of eight core infrastructure sectors like coal, cement, electricity, oil, and steel, halved to 2.2 per cent in April against 4.2 per cent a year ago.