India could regain 8 to 9 pc growth rate: PM

Giving a positive projection on the country’s economic scenario, PM Manmohan Singh said India could regain its annual growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent as the world economy could recover “partially” from the present crisis by September this year.

Giving a positive projection on the country’s economic scenario, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said India could regain its annual growth rate of 8 to 9 per cent as the world economy could recover “partially” from the present crisis by September this year.

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“I expect the world economy will recover at least partially by September this year. And if that happens we can hope to go back to the growth rate of 8 to 9 percent which has been the growth rate of India in last five years,” Singh told reporters here.

The Prime Minister added that the country’s growth rate was close to 7.1 percent in 2008-2009 while in the current year also it will be about 6.5 to 7 percent.

Responding to questions on the meltdown and its impact on India, the Prime Minister said that the world is faced with a “grave” economic crisis that arose “because of mishandling of the financial system by the major developed countries.

“From financial crisis, it became a credit crisis. It has affected a large number of developed countries,” he said.

The crisis has affected India’s exports, as well as capital and credit flows to it, he added.