India's economy grew 8.8 per cent in the March quarter from a year earlier, led by strong expansion in the services sector, and the pace of growth was faster than market expectations.

The annual growth for India's fiscal fourth quarter was higher than the median forecast in a Reuters poll of 8.2 per cent, and matched an upwardly revised 8.8 per cent in the October-December quarter.

That left full fiscal-year growth at 9.0 per cent and showed growth was still robust despite tightening of monetary policy and strengthening of the currency in 2007.

The government had earlier estimated annual growth of 8.7 per cent for the whole of 2007/08.