Data due at 1200 GMT on Tuesday, Feb. 28

BENGALURU, Feb 24 Reuters India39;s economic growth likely slowed further in the OctoberDecember quarter amid weakening demand and is set to lose more momentum as a series of interest rate hikes weigh on activity, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

Gross domestic product GDP growth in the last quarter slipped to an annual 4.6, according to the median forecast of 42 economists in the Feb. 1024 survey.

The economy had expanded 13.5 in AprilJune boosted largely because of pandemicrelated statistical distortions  before moderating to 6.3 in JulySeptember.

The monthly survey also showed growth in Asia39;s thirdlargest economy was expected to slow further to 4.4 in the current quarter, and across 202324 would average 6.0, lower than the 6.5 official government estimate published on Jan. 31.

Forecasts for the OctoberDecember data, due on Feb. 28, ranged widely, from 4.0 to 5.8. However, all survey respondents predicted growth to be lower than the previous quarter and threequarters of respondents forecast growth below 5.0.

There are base effects that are normalizing and pulling down the annual numbers. The support from agriculture might be lower and also manufacturing could be a drag, said Sakshi Gupta, principal economist at HDFC Bank.

She added that on the demand side, exports and consumer demand were likely to have contributed to the slowdown, while investments held steady.

Inflation is continuing to remain very…