'Growth rate has bottomed out; may be revised upwards for FY14'

The latest estimate of 4.9 percent for 2013-14 implies that the pace of economic expansion improved in the second half, given that GDP grew 4.6 percent in the April-September period.

On January 31, it had revised GDP growth for 2011-12 upwards to 6.7 percent from 6.2 percent. The CSO had however lowered growth for 2012-13 to 4.5 percent in its revised estimates from an earlier provisional forecast of 5 percent.

For 2013-14, the CSO has projected a growth rate of 4.6 percent in agriculture and allied sectors, up from 1.4 percent a year earlier.

Manufacturing, however, is expected to register a contraction of 0.2 percent in this financial year compared with growth of 1.1 percent in the previous year.