GDP should have been back at 9% due to lower oil prices: Kaushik Basu

GDP growth in the second quarter of 2017-18 was 6.3%, compared to 5.7% in the April-June period

With oil prices so low, India's economic growth should have been back at over 9 per cent, Former Chief Economist at World Bank Kaushik Basu said , expressing disappointment at the 6.3 per cent GDP expansion in the September quarter.

"India's growth rate is now 6.3 per cent. It had reached a rate of 9.5 per cent from 2005-2008," Basu, who was also Chief Economic Adviser during the UPA government, said in a tweet.

"Now with oil prices so low, the growth should have been back at over 9 per cent. This massive slowdown needs to be properly diagnosed," he added.

The GDP growth in the second quarter of 2017-18 was 6.3 per cent, compared to 5.7 per cent in the April-June period — the lowest growth rate since the Modi government took office.

It was 7.5 per cent in the September quarter of last financial year.