Growth projected to hit decade’s lowest at 5% India’s economic growth rate this fiscal is estimated to be sharply lower at 5 per cent, lowest in a decade, on account of poor performance of manufacturing, agriculture and services sector. This estimate by CSO is drastically lower than what has been projected thus far by the government and the RBI. “The growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) during 2012-13 is estimated at 5 per cent as compared to a growth rate of 6.2 per cent in 2011-12,” according to the Advanced Estimates released on Thursday by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO). In 2002-03, the GDP had grown at 4 per cent. Since then the Indian economy has been expanding at over 6 per cent, the highest rate being 9.6 per cent in 2006-07. The CSO’s advance estimate lowered the growth in agriculture and allied activities to 1.8 per cent in 2012-13, compared to 3.6 per cent 2011-12. Manufacturing growth is also expected to drop to 1.9 per cent in this fiscal, from 2.7 per cent last year. The CSO’s GDP growth projection is a lower than the 5.5 per cent forecast made by the Reserve Bank in its quarterly monetary policy review last week.