With major sectors of the economy showing signs of slowdown, the list of those pegging India's economic growth at below eight per cent in the current financial year is expanding.
"The economy will grow in the range of 7.5-8 per cent...it may be 7.8 or 7.7 per cent," he said.
GDP grew at a six-quarter low of 7.7 per cent in the first quarter. However, PMEAC is yet to officially revise its estimate of 8.2 per cent.
Rangarajan had already scaled that projection down to eight per cent. While doing so, he'd pegged the economy to grow by 7.9 per cent in the second quarter and then 8.3-8.4 per cent in the third and fourth quarters.
There are signs of slowing down in the second quarter. Industrial growth was below five per cent for the second month in a row this August.
The widely-tracked HSBC purchasing managers' index (PMI) for services contracted for the first time in two and a half years in September. The PMI for manufacturing for September was also the lowest in two years.
Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) went for a 13th rise in policy rates in 19 months, to tame the over nine per cent inflation.
In its recent policy meet, the central bank also lowered the GDP growth forecast to 7.6
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