India's union Finance Ministry has said that it expects a growth of 5.5 per cent for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the current fiscal year, 2013.

The prediction from the finance ministry comes after the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said that it expects the Indian economy to grow at 5 per cent, which is its lowest level in decade. The slower growth rate in the Indian economy is attributed to poor performance by manufacturing, agriculture and services sectors.

The Finance Ministry has said that the estimate by the CSO is likely to be revised and will be more aligned with the government's projection of a growth rate of 5.5 per cent for the current financial year. The Ministry of Finance has described the advance estimate by the CSO as "disappointing".

The finance ministry said that the CSO estimates have been revised more than once in the previous years as the agency gets more data. The GDP growth for the country was recorded at 4 per cent in 2002-03. The Indian economy has been growing at an average rate of 6 per cent during the previous few years.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has estimated a growth rate of 5.5 per cent for the current financial year.