India's GDP for the January-March quarter, grew by 9.3 per cent, beating market expectations, compared to 8.6 per cent in the year-ago period, mainly on the back of a healthy 5.5 per cent growth in the agriculture sector.

The economy grew by a robust 8.4 per cent in 2005-06, compared to 7.5 per cent in 2004-05, according to official data.

The farm sector had registered a dismal 1.5 per cent growth in the year-ago quarter. Besides growth in agriculture sector, electricity, gas and water supply improved by 6.1 per cent, compared to 1.4 per cent a year ago.

GDP in the first quarter of FY06 grew by 8.5 per cent, in the second quarter by 8.4 per cent and third quarter by 7.5 per cent, according to the revised estimates released by the government.

It had earlier estimated that the economy had grown by an aggregate 7.9 per cent after the first three quarters of 2005-06. But the figure has since been revised upwards.