India Economy Expands More Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - India's economy expanded more than expected in the June quarter, fueled by investment and spending, official data showed on Monday.

Gross domestic product logged an annual growth of 7.8 percent in the April to June period, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said. This was stronger than economists' forecast of 7.1 percent.

The Reserve Bank of India had projected real growth at 7 percent for the June quarter.

However, the pace of growth softened from the 8.6 percent expansion seen in the quarter ended March. In the same period last year, GDP growth was 6.9 percent.

On the expenditure-side of GDP, private consumption advanced 7.1 percent and government spending grew 4.3 percent. Gross fixed capital formation registered a double-digit growth of 11.9 percent.

Exports surged 12.0 percent from the last year, while imports dropped 1.1 percent, data showed.