(Online Desk)

For the first time in five quarters, India’s economic heartbeat, aka GDP, accelerated at a faster clip of 7.2 per cent during the third quarter of FY18, regaining the ‘world’s fastest-growing economy’ tag.

Rising GDP will paper over the cracks caused by demonetisation and GST, but don’t uncork the bubbly yet. Experts warn the feel-good factor could be brief and is squarely dependent on monsoon, oil prices, pick in private investments and spending.

But, enthused by the December quarter economic growth of 7.2 per cent, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), Bibek Debroy said that India is on the right path to become one of the fastest expanding major economies in the world surpassing China.

The growth, he said, will pick up more in the upcoming quarter driven by the government's commitment to implement structural reforms, and aided by higher growth in the industrial and services sectors as well as spending by the Centre.

"The GDP trends are consistent with the robust growth of the manufacturing Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI), Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and consumer demand," an official statement said, quoting Debroy.

Showing signs of recovery, the Indian economy recorded a five-quarter high growth of 7.2 per cent in the October-December period on good showing by key sectors like agriculture, construction and manufacturing.

The economy is expected to grow at 6.6 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 31, as per the second advanced estimates of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), compared to 7.1 per cent in 2016-17.

The earlier estimate was 6.5 per cent.

The CSO said that the real GDP or Gross Domestic Product at constant (2011-12) prices in 2017-18 is likely to be Rs 130.04 lakh crore, as against the first revised estimate for 2016-17 of Rs 121.96 lakh crore, released on January 31