The government on Wednesday exuded the confidence that the economy would grow at a pace higher than the 7.2 per cent estimated by the statistical department for this fiscal as economic activities were picking up.
Even 7.2 per cent growth is not discouraging in the context of subdued economic environment globally, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting on the Colombo Plan -- a grouping of nations for economic and social improvement in south and southeast Asia.
"When the final figures come, particularly for the third quarter, I think there may be improvement (over Central Statistical Organisation's estimate of 7.2 per cent). Anyway, 7.2 per cent in the current situation is not bad," he said.
Referring to advance estimates of CSO last fiscal, Mukherjee said it had estimated 6.5 per cent growth for 2008-09, but ultimately it turned out to be 6.7 per cent.
Earlier in his speech, the finance minister referred to the Economic Survey's projection of up to 7.75 per cent for the current fiscal and said that the economy is expected to grow in the upper band of the projections made by analysts.
"The Economic Survey 2008-09 had indicated that the upper band of growth in real GDP for the year 2009-10 could be around 7.75 per cent. The growth outlook for the next two quarters and for the whole year is expected to be in the upper range of most predictions for the Indian economy," he said.
Mukherjee said along with all other economies, India too was forced to downgrade its growth projections due to the impact of global financial crisis.
"Despite the stress, India has been able to withstand the recessionary trend better than most other economies and is a front-runner in leading the global recovery process," he said.
India's economic growth slowed down to 6.7 per cent last fiscal, down 2.1 per cent from the average growth rate per annum in the preceding five years.
With global financial crisis deepening after the collapse of US financial services icon Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the government unveiled stimulus packages to perk up the economy through duty cuts and increase in plan expenditure.
This yielded results with the economy growing by 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal against 6.1 per cent in the preceding quarter and 5.8 per cent each in the previous two quarters.
Mukherjee said, "It (India's economic growth) vindicates the timely policy measures taken by the government to mitigate the adverse impact of the financial crisis on India and the positive response of all stakeholders and partners in development."
CSO in its advance estimates pegged the economic growth rate at 7.2 per cent for this fiscal, while mid-year economic review projected it to be 7.75 per cent and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Reserve Bank of India have said it may be 7.5 per cent.
