India GDP growth rate lowest since 2009 amid fastest BRIC inflation

NEW DELHI - India's economy grew last quarter at the slowest pace in more than two years after the nation's central bank raised interest rates by a record to tame the fastest inflation among so-called BRIC nations.

GDP rose 6.9 percent in the three months through September, the Central Statistical Office said in a statement in New Delhi on Wednesday. That's the weakest expansion since the second quarter of 2009, and matches the median of 6.9 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of 24 economists.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's efforts to stimulate growth are being hamstrung by corruption scandals that have stalled legislation for a year, and a political outcry against foreign investment in retail. The Reserve Bank of India has also been constrained in supporting the economy as it struggles with inflation that's almost twice the rate in China and higher than in Brazil and Russia.