Non-inflationary growth down at 7.5 pct - RBI chief
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India's non-inflationary growth rate has fallen to around 7.5 percent from 8 percent in the post-Lehman crisis period, RBI chief Duvvuri Subbarao said on Tuesday.
Assessing India's potential growth rate consistent with the objective of low and stable inflation remains a challenge, Subbarao said in a speech at the Reserve Bank of India's sixth statistics day conference.
Before the 2008 global financial crisis, the country's potential output, defined as growth without fuelling inflation pressures, was 8.5 percent.
"An accurate estimate of potential output is critically important for central banks to assess demand conditions and the output gap. Reliability and timeliness are critical," he said.
The RBI projects the economy to grow at 7.3 percent in 2012/13.
India's industrial output grew more than expected in May at 2.4 percent from a year earlier, while headline inflation slowed to its lowest level in five months in June to 7.25 percent.
While a lower inflation number added to pressure from business leaders to cut policy rates, a faltering monsoon -- key to volatile food prices -- tempered such expectations with the government warning inflation could accelerate without more rain.
Asia's third-largest economy posted its slowest growth in nine years at 5.3 percent in the March quarter, fuelling concerns of a sharp slowdown in the current fiscal year that began in April.
Subbarao added that the central bank should focus on price changes at the industry level or the producer price index, which reflects the actual price excluding government subsidies, sales and excise taxes.
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