new delhi the data released by the central statistical organisation cso showing the slowest growth in 10 years have come as an embarrassment for the finance ministry which had questioned the statistics offices methodology and expressed doubts about the advanced estimates the finance ministry had slammed the cso for forecasting 5 growth for 201213 finance minister p chidambaram had said the estimate of 5 was based on dated data he had said that growth would be closer to 55 and had exuded confidence that green shoots of recovery were visible in the economy his chief economic adviser raghuram rajan had also doubted the cso forecasts saying it was based on past data one of the problems with the cso estimate is that it is based on past data and at turning points in gdp growth looking at past data underestimates change he had said policymakers said evidence of a strong recovery was yet to emerge there is evidence the economy has bottomed out but we still dont have evidence of a strong recovery it is challenging to get to 6 growth where last quarter is 48 said montek singh ahluwalia deputy chairman of the planning commission the indian economy asias thirdlargest has slowed sharply from the scorching growth notched a few years ago due to a string of factors including high inflation high interest rates slowing global economy delay in implementation of projects policy logjam slowing industrial growth and declining business sentiment the high current account deficit which widened to 67 in the december quarter and stubborn inflation has acted as obstacles to easing monetary policy aggressively while the reserve bank of india has cut interest rates it has cautioned about the persisting inflationary pressures and risks still facing the economy what has been most disappointing is that industrial output growth in 201213 has been a mere 1 posing a threat to job creation and overall growth the government initiated some reform measures in september last year hoping to script a turnaround in the india growth story but fresh corruption scandals and the continued parliamentary logjam have dashed hopes of any reform measures being pushed through business confidence has taken a knock and economists say urgent steps are necessary to reverse the slowdown fridays data showed the farm sector rose 19 in 201213 compared to 36 in the yearago period while the crucial manufacturing sector grew 1 compared with 27 expansion in 201112 economists said the data showed that weak spots still remained and returning to 6 growth in the current fiscal year would be a challenge sluggish gains in agricultural and manufacturing output and soft utilities production were key restraining factors alongside the chidambaram squeeze on government spending in sequential terms we estimate that gdp growth was still below 5 on an annualized basis richard iley asia economist at bnp paribas said in a note with survey evidence souring in april the nearuniversal expectation for an improvement to 6 growth in fiscal year 2014 is already looking stretched the