India's economy should grow 7.2 percent in the fiscal year ending in March, an official forecast said Monday, as the economy's recovery from the global financial crisis picks up speed.

The projection was contained in an advanced estimate prepared by the statistics office for use by the government in drafting its budget for the next financial year.

The forecast growth is slower than the average nine percent expansion India logged before the global economic downturn, but marks an acceleration from the 6.7 percent posted in the previous financial year.

Late last week the International Monetary Fund said India has been among the first to recover from the global downturn while New Delhi and Beijing were making a "significant contribution" in the revival of the global economy.

China is likely to post 10 percent growth this year.

A surge in manufacturing, forecast to expand by 8.9 percent from a year earlier, and services, seen rising by 9.9 percent, have offset India's sharp drop in farm output.

Agricultural production is expected to shrink 0.2 percent as a result of monsoon rains in 2009 that were the weakest in nearly four decades.

The GDP forecast put out by the Central Statistical Organisation is lower than projections by the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry.