New Delhi: Belying expectations of a lower growth, India's gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter this fiscal grew at an impressive 5.8 per cent despite a dismal performance by the agriculture sector, which registered zero per cent growth in the period.

As per the latest quarterly estimates released by the Central Statistical Organisation on December 31, quarterly GDP at factor cost during July-September 2002 was estimated at Rs 2,98,308 crore compared to Rs 2,82,084 crore in the corresponding the period the previous year, showing a growth rate of 5.8 per cent.

Agriculture sector failed to sustain the recovery witnessed in the first quarter by growing at zero per cent in the second quarter as against a healthy 6.3 per cent growth in July-September 2001.

An official release said the zero growth was attributed by the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation to the sharp decline in production of commercial crops, rice, coarse cereals and pulses during the kharif season of the current year.

The production of rice, coarse cereals and pulses fell by 15.8 per cent, 27.8 per cent and 16.7 per cent respectively during the kharif season over the corresponding season in the previous year.

Amongst production of commercial crops, oil seed production is expected to decline by 25.1 per cent while production of cotton and sugarcane is expected to fall by 22.3 and 5.4 per cent respectively over their estimated production last year.

The sectors which performed well in the second quarter were mining, manufacturing, construction, trade, finance and insurance.

Bettering its performance, mining and quarrying sector registered a growth rate of 5.1 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal against 0.7 per cent in the same period last year, although compared to the first quarter of 2002-03, the growth was marginally lower.

As per the data, manufacturing witnessed a robust 6.4 per cent growth in the period in reference compared to 2.6 per cent in the year-ago period, while construction sector grew at an astounding 7.2 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal, against 2.7 per cent earlier.

However, the highest growth came in the financing, insurance, real estate and business service segment which clocked 8.9 per cent compared to 7.6 per cent in the year-ago period even though the growth in second quarter was marginally lower than the 9.7 per cent growth registered in the first quarter of this fiscal.

Trade, hotels, transport and communication clocked an equally impressive 8 per cent growth compared to 6.3 per cent in the corresponding period.

Bucking the trend, electricity, gas and water supply registered a growth of 4.9 per cent compared to 5.4 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

In another segment, community, social and personal services industry sustained the growth of the first quarter at 5.7 per cent, which was marginally higher than the 5.4 per cent estimated in the corresponding period a year earlier.

PTI