Indian economic growth slows in December quarter of 2016
India's economic growth slowed in the December quarter of 2016, but the pace of expansion still beat expectations, the BBC reports.
The 7% rate was slower than the previous quarter's rate of 7.4%, but beat analysts' expectations of 6.4%.
Economists had expected the economy to suffer from the government's decision to withdraw high-denomination banknotes as part of an anti-corruption drive.
The federal statistics office retained its growth forecast for the year ending in March 2017 at 7.1%.
The figures surprised economists, who had expected the economy to take a bigger hit from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision last November to withdraw old 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee banknotes, taking 86% of the currency out of circulation virtually overnight.
"Perhaps this data is not capturing the impact of demonetisation," said Aneesh Srivastava, chief investment officer at IDBI Federal Life Insurance.
"I am totally surprised and stunned to see this number... I believe that, with a lag, we will see an impact on GDP numbers."