MUMBAI: India’s economy grew by 7.4 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter, official figures showed on Monday, outperforming China and giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi a boost following a recent election drubbing.

Growth in the three months to the end of September quickened to 7.4pc from 7pc in the previous quarter, according to statistics ministry data, slightly ahead of analysts’ expectations.

India has now recorded three straight quarters of growth above seven percent, performing better than its giant neighbour China on each occasion and leading the way for emerging markets with Russia and Brazil flagging.

“China was the leader of economic growth across the globe for two decades or so until 2014 but India will now be the pace-setter for the next two to three years at least,” said analyst Sujan Hajra.

The figures for the second quarter of the financial year bettered China’s 6.9pc increase in GDP recorded for the same three months and reported by Beijing last month. They were also higher than the median forecast of 7.3pc in a survey of economists by Bloomberg News.

With fellow BRICS partner Russia contracting 4.1pc in the same period and Brazil predicted to shrink 4.2pc, India is a rare bright spot in a struggling world economy.

“India is now a very important backdrop in a slowing global economy,” Hajra, chief economist at Anand Rathi Securities, told AFP.

Modi has made boosting economic growth a priority since sweeping to power in a general election in May 2014 and India has posted 7.5pc, 7pc and 7.4pc quarterly growth for the calendar year 2015.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015