Citi, CLSA cut India GDP growth to 5.4 per cent

In the wake of rating agency CRISIL pruning India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.5 per cent, two more institutions have now joined the growing list of analysts, economists and brokerages who expect a growth of below 6 per cent for the country in the current fiscal.

American banking major Citi, headed by Indian CEO Vikram Pandit, and global brokerage firm CLSA announced their decisions to cut their estimates of India growth to 5.4 per cent and 5.5 per cent on Wednesday, respectively.

“The stars just don’t seem to be aligning for India, with almost all the growth drivers being hit... The government needs to get down to serious business with more action to stem a further deceleration in growth,” a note from Citi said, adding that it is scaling down its fiscal 2013 growth estimate to 5.4 per cent from the earlier 6.4 per cent.

Further, the report, authored by Citi India Chief Economist Rohini Malkani, goes to the extent of saying that if the drought conditions worsen, growth may slip further to 4.9 per cent.

Apart from Citi, CLSA also cut its GDP growth estimate to 5.5 per cent from the earlier 6 per cent, stating, “The revised forecast assumes lower growth of zero per cent (from a “normal” 3 per cent) for the agriculture and allied sector.” Its senior economist Rajeev Malik said ‘this may not be a final revision as the monsoon is not over yet’.