S&P Global Ratings on Monday retained its projection of India’s economic growth at 7.3 per cent for the current fiscal and said inflation is likely to remain above the upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent till the end of 2022.

In its Economic Outlook for Asia Pacific, S&P said the external environment has soured for economies in the region and higher global interest rates will continue to exert pressure on central banks in the form of capital outflows and currency depreciation.

S&P Global Ratings Asia-Pacific chief economist Louis Kuijs said a pronounced slowdown in China was offset by a strong rebound in India as consumption, especially of services, continued to recover and investment grew rapidly.

“We have retained our India growth outlook at 7.3 percent for 2022-2023 and 6.5 percent for the next fiscal year, although we see the risks tilted to the downside,” Kuijs said.

The RBI expects the economy to grow 7.2 per cent in the current fiscal (April-March). The growth last year (2021-22)was 8.7 per cent. The economy expanded 13.5 per cent in the April-June quarter, sequentially higher than the 4.10 percent growth clocked in the January-March period. Several other agencies, including ADB, Fitch and Citigroup, have already slashed India’s growth projections to either 7 per cent or below.