The Indian economy continued to splutter in the sub- five per cent growth zone for the fifth quarter in a row with both manufacturing and the scam- ridden mining sector contracting during the October- December period of the current fiscal.

Official figures released on Friday showed the GDP growth rate down to 4.7 per cent during the third quarter from 4.8 per cent in the July- September quarter.

The economic growth rate for the first three quarters of the current fiscal now works out to a dismal 4.6 per cent which means the GDP growth would have to jump by 5.7 in the last quarter to achieve even the CSO's scaled down estimate of 4.9 per cent for the current financial year.

However, with political uncertainty setting in due to the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and big ticket investments being put on hold the growth rate is not expected to accelerate.

Crisil chief economist D. K. Joshi said the big picture that emerges is that the Indian economy will post a sub- 5 per cent growth rate during the current fiscal.

" Going ahead we need a strong government after the Lok Sabha elections that will take steps to remove the bottlenecks in providing natural resources and raw material inputs for the industry,'' he added.

Finance minister P. Chidmabaram's forecast of the Indian economy staging a recovery in the second half of the current fiscal to record a 5- 5.5 per cent growth rate has turned out to be optimistic with real time figures failing to throwing up any green shoots.

The manufacturing sector which is crucial for providing high- quality jobs to the growing workforce contracted by 1.9 per cent during the third quarter as fresh investment in the economy declined and consumer demand fell.

The falling demand for consumer durables, such as washing machines and refrigerators, due to the economic slowdown led to a further scaling down of manufacturing output.

The mining sector shrank by 1.6 per cent during the quarter. The sector continued to reel under the policy paralysis in the wake of the coalgate scam. This has had a cascading effect on the infrastructure sector as well as power projects have been held up due to coal shortage.

Economists had expected improved farm output to contribute to a slight pickup in overall growth, but the year- on- year pace of growth in agriculture slowed to 3.6 per cent from 4.6 per cent in the prior quarter.

" Agriculture and industry have both disappointed.

With this kind of third quarter numbers, the overall growth for the year looks likely to average around 4.6 per cent," said economist Anubhuti Sahay at Standard Chartered bank in Mumbai.