EXPERT VIEWS - India's economy grows 7.9 percent in Jan-March

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's economic growth accelerated a stronger-than-expected 7.9 percent in the three months through March from a year earlier, up from a revised 7.2 percent in the previous quarter, government data showed on Tuesday. For the 2015/16 fiscal year ending in March, growth came in at 7.6 percent, in line with the official estimate. COMMENTARY A. PRASANNA, ECONOMIST, ICICI SECURITIES PRIMARY DEALERSHIP "The numbers are higher than what the consensus expectation was, so in that sense, it is definitely positive, which means going forward also the outlook continues to be positive. "We are already seeing some recovery in the core sector data, and hopefully in IIP (industrial output) data also we will see signs of recovery. "With expectations of monsoon being normal, the consumption will get a boost from rural income growth. "What is still unknown is on investment pick-up, but we expect export growth to start picking up, which can help investment pick-up. "So we do expect a gradual improvement in the economy going forward." DEVENDRA KUMAR PANT, CHIEF ECONOMIST, INDIA RATINGS AND RESEARCH "Agriculture, no doubt, will have some positive impact from the third quarter onward. Agriculture will be driving it on the expectation of better rainfall after two consecutive years of sub-par monsoon. That will revive demand both in industry as well as services. "The consumption story is there because despite two consecutive sub-par monsoons and rural demand not growing we are seeing some growth, but right now the problem more is of investment. "We all believe investment demand is going to revive quickly, but it will not revive very soon. Until and unless investment story evolves, the stability to growth will be a challenge." SHUBHADA RAO, CHIEF ECONOMIST, YES BANK "Momentum is building up faster than anticipated, and there is demand pick-up in the horizon. This definitely spells out a positive story that there will soon be a recovery in private sector capex." (Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Abhirup Roy; Compiled by Rafael Nam)