Adi Godrej, President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has said that the weaker than expected GDP growth during the fourth quarter and 6.5 per cent in 2011-12 was a matter of concern and the government should view the trend as a wakeup call.

The industry body has urged the government to focus on reviving the economy at a time when lower growth has sparked fear that the economy is slowing down. India’s GDP growth has fallen to its lowest level in 9 years to 5.3 per cent for the fourth quarter of the financial year till March 2012. The GDP growth for the same quarter of 2010-11 was 9.2 per cent, showed the latest data announced by the company.

Growth in the manufacturing sector fell 0.3 per cent, from 7.3 per cent in the same quarter of the previous financial year. The agricultural output rose by just 1.7 per cent during the quarter, compared to 7.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of the previous year. As for the whole financial year, the national GDP growth in 2011-12 fell to 6.5 per cent from 8.4 per cent in the 2010-11.

Besides low growth rate, the economy is also facing other major challenges like falling value of the Indian rupee, annual inflation remains high at around 7.0 percent, while the current account and public deficits are large.

Mr. Godrej asked the government to prepare a revival package to retrieve the economy to put it back on the desired growth trajectory.