Kaushik Basu sees faster growth in 2012-13

The government expects India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth to pick pace in the next fiscal year, although growth this year will be "slightly higher" than 7%, chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu said on Tuesday. HT reports.

The government expects India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth to pick pace in the next fiscal year, although growth this year will be "slightly higher" than 7%, chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu said on Tuesday.

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In the mid-year analysis tabled in Parliament in December, the government had projected that India's GDP would grow by 7.5%, a sharp moderation compared to the 9% growth forecast during the presentation of the Union Budget in February.

"We expect the growth next year to be higher than the growth this year, not higher by a large measure... but we should see an improvement in 2012-13," Basu said.

On the expected growth this year, Basu commented: "We had said it will be 7.5% with a small band around it. I am afraid we will be at the bottom end of the band..."

"The growth rate will be less than 7.5% for sure, may be just a little above 7%," he told mediapersons here.

The finance ministry has developed a comparative rating index of sovereigns (CRIS), which shows that in relative terms India has become a better investment destination for global investors by 5.06%.