Economy to grow by 9 pc: Pranab

Addressing the 26th India Economic Summit jointly organised by Davos-based World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Sunday, Mukherjee was also confident that growth levels would surge to double-digit in two years if reforms remain on track.

“The challenge now is to quickly revert to the high growth path of 9 percent plus,’ the finance minister said, “Means would be found to cross over to double-digit growth barrier in the coming year or two”.

The Finance Minister remained upbeat over the decline in industrial growth that touched 4.4 per cent in September.

“The manufacturing sector has been showing buoyancy reminiscent of the pre-slowdown years, though some concerns on its growth momentum have emerged in the last month or two,” he remarked. 

“Savings and investment rates have reached levels that even ten years ago would have been dismissed as a pipedream for India.

“On this important dimension, India is now completely a part of the world’s fast-growing economies,” he added.

Spends over infrastructure, the Minister said, have increased to 9 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first three years of the 11th Five Year Plans (2007-12), more than 4-5 per cent from the previous  plan period.