NEW DELHI, June 1 (Xinhua) -- India's GDP growth rate of 7.7 percent, recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017-2018, shows that the country's economy was on an uptrend, said president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Rashesh Shah on Friday.

"The GDP growth data released yesterday (Thursday) presents an optimistic picture of the economy, reflected in year-on-year growth for fourth quarter, especially for the construction and manufacturing sectors," said Shah.

He said it was also heartening to see that demand and investments had picked up pace, reflected in higher growth in both private and government expenditure as well as significant rise in gross fixed capital formation in the fourth quarter.

"These corroborate with FICCI's surveys that reveal an improving outlook on investments. We hope that the government will continue investing in infrastructure to accelerate the pace of growth even further," he added.

Confident that India expects to grow at 7.5 percent in the current fiscal year, Shah, however, warned that the government will have to be watchful about the movement in the oil prices in the global market, as well as the pace at which the health of the domestic banking sector improves.