FinMin sees growth near 9 % in 07/08

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Thursday he saw gross domestic product growing close to 9 per cent in 2007/08, after a statistics office estimate put growth at 8.7 per cent for the year.

Chidambaram said he hoped the statistics office figure would be revised upwards.

"There is some disappointment, but I am not too despondent. I am reasonably confident these numbers can only move upwards," he told reporters.