'GDP growth rate to be lower than CSO's forecast of 7.6% in FY16'

New Delhi: The economic growth is expected to be 7.5 percent in 2015-16, lower than advance estimate of 7.6 percent by the Central Statistics Office, India Ratings and Research said on Friday.

"The FY16 real gross value addition (GVA) will be achieved as per the advance estimate of the CSO; however GDP growth may miss the estimate by 10 basis point," the ratings agency said in a release.

The agency said it expects the growth rate for last quarter of 2015-16 at 7.4 percent, which translates into the 2015-16 GDP growth of 7.5 percent.

"The 2015-16 GDP growth is likely to have been marginally lower than the advance estimate of 7.6 percent," it said.

Ind-Ra notes that any change in the fourth quarter of 2014-15 or the annual 2014-15 growth by the CSO, will have an impact on the quarterly and annual growth estimates.

Ind-Ra believes that the agricultural GVA growth can surprise positively, despite the second consecutive year of sub-par monsoons, mainly due to the unseasonal rainfall during the last quarter of 2014-15.

The growth in industrial GVA during the fourth quarter if 2015-16 is likely to have declined from the previous quarter level, however Ind-Ra estimates it to have been better than year-ago period.