NEW DELHI, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Moody's Investors Service (MIS), an American credit rating agency, on Thursday cut India's economic growth forecast for current year to 5.6 percent from previously estimated 5.8 percent.
According to the credit rating, the GDP slowdown in India will last longer than previously expected.
"We have revised down our growth forecast for India. We now forecast slower real GDP growth of 5.6 percent in 2019, from 7.4 percent in 2018," it said.
MIS expects economic activity to pick up in 2020 and 2021 to 6.6 percent and 6.7 percent respectively. The Indian government is yet to respond to Moody's GDP forecast.
Last week, MIS cut India's ratings outlook to negative from stable. However, the agency retained the country's credit rating at Baa2. The Indian government then responded to MIS rating outlook defending its economy on the basis of its status as one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world.
On Monday data released by federal government's statistics and programme implementation ministry said India's factory activity growth, determined by Index of Industrial Production (IIP) continued to show contraction for the second straight month in September.
As per ministry, IIP contracted by 4.3 percent in September compared with a contraction of 1.1 percent in August.
