Indian economy slows to 7.7% in Q1FY12

Confirming fears of a slowdown, the Indian economy grew a meagre 7.7% in the first (April-June) quarter of fiscal year 2012 as against 9.3% recorded in the same quarter last year. A CNBC-TV18 poll indicated GDP to come at 7.6%.

The slowdown was mainly due to the poor performance of the manufacturing sector, which grew 7.2% during the quarter versus 12.7% on year-on-year basis.

While agriculture output showed an improvement, expanding by a robust 3.9% over 2.4% (YoY), the mining and quarrying sector grew by a minuscule 1.2% growth as against 7.7% growth in the first quarter of the previous fiscal. Construction took a major beating, growing a meagre 1.2% annually.

The services sector, including insurance and real estate, grew by 10% during the quarter, compared to 9.8% expansion in the corresponding period last year, while industry grew by 5.1%.

Don't miss: Morgan Stanley lowers India's 2012 GDP forecast to 7.4%

Furthermore, the trade, hotels, transport and communications segments grew by 12.8% in the quarter under review, up from 12.1% in the year-ago period.

GDP growth for Q1FY11 has also been revised downward to 8.8% from the earlier provisional estimate of 9.3%.

The government has projected overall economic growth in the current fiscal at around 8.5%, while the Reserve Bank has projected the growth to moderate to 8% from 8.5% in FY11. (Also read: India's annual avg GDP growth at 6.6% in 1990-2010: Govt)

HERE is how experts are analysing the numbers.