Mumbai, Feb 5 (IANS): After an estimated contraction in the current financial year, India's GDP is expected to grow at 10.5 percent in FY2021-22, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday.

In a video statement after the Monetary Policy Committee's bi-monthly meet, Das said that growth in the first half of FY22 is projected to be in the range of 8.3-26.2 percent and 6 percent in the third quarter.

The robust growth projection for the coming fiscal comes on the back of the low base in the current financial year, which has been largely hit by the pandemic and the eventual lockdowns.

He said that the growth outlook has improved significantly with positive impulses becoming more broad-based, adding that 2021 is setting the stage for a new economic era.

On inflation, Das said that the central bank's near-term outlook for inflation in the country is stable.

The Consumer Price Index or the retail inflation is seen at 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of FY21, down from the previous projection of 5.8 percent.

In the first half of the next fiscal, inflation is seen at 5 percent and 4.3 percent in Q3.

The MPC of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 percent and will maintain a growth-supportive accommodative stance.