Economy

Underscoring that long stretch of growth in the sector, factory activity in the first three months of 2019 increased at its quickest quarterly average rate in more than six years.

The Reserve Bank of India will cut rates for a second consecutive time when its three-day policy meeting ends on Thursday.

At its final bi-monthly policy review of the last fiscal year in February, RBI voted to lower its repo rate by 25 bps to 6.25 per cent

During April-February, the output growth rate came in at 4.3 per cent from the year-ago period, according to the data.

The data for the last month of financial year 2018-19 - which concluded on March 31, 2019 - also showed that the overall GST collections for the whole year stood Rs 11,77,369 crore.

India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 2, according to a government order.

Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said gross borrowing will be Rs 4.42 lakh crore during April-September 2019-20.

Stable oil prices are also expected to ease the current account deficit in future and boost the rupee exchange rate, which was one of the worst performers in Asia in 2018 dented by a surge in oil prices.

The revenue department falls within the Ministry of Finance, and the two ministries need to consult over any decision to delay the tariffs.

Earlier in February, while presenting the annual budget for 2019/20, the government had revised upward its fiscal deficit target to 3.4 per cent of GDP for the current fiscal year from the previously estimated 3.3 per cent budgeted target.

Petrol and diesel prices were changed marginally on Thursday. With effect from 6 am on March 28, petrol prices stood at Rs 72.81 per litre in Delhi and Rs 78.43 per litre in Mumbai, according to data from Indian Oil Corporation. Diesel prices in Delhi and Mumbai were at Rs 66.39 per litre and Rs 69.54 per litre respectively. Currently, domestic petrol and diesel prices - determined broadly by international crude oil rates and rupee-dollar exchange rates - are reviewed by state-run oil marketing companies on a daily basis. Any revisions are effected at fuel pumps at 6 am.

Plentiful monsoon rains could lift agricultural and wider economic growth, and keep inflation subdued. That could also add to pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates.

In the current fiscal year, government is eyeing Rs 14,500 crore by way of sell of its 52.63% stake in REC to state-owned Power Finance Corporation

The 6.9 per cent estimate is a notch lower than a 7 per cent growth estimated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for the current fiscal year.

Neither RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das nor any RBI official from the monetary policy department gave any indication of their thoughts or views, as is typical in such big-group meetings. Slowing growth has hit the government's tax collections, constraining its ability to substantially boost spending ahead of elections.