Indian economy to grow by 7.75 per cent: Pranab Mukherjee

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that with the worst of the global crisis over, India could look forward to achieving 9-10 per cent growth in the near future.

The Union Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee addressing at the 8th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas-2010, in New Delhi

Addressing the first plenary of the 2010 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi, India's annual conclave to connect with its vast diaspora, Mukherjee said, "The Indian economy is on the growth trajectory path. We may expect 7.75 per cent growth this fiscal," Mukherjee said.

He said he was quite confident that if things were to continue the way they were going, it was possible to achieve a growth of 9-10 per cent.

Detailing the manner in which India had responded to the global economic meltdown, he said that in January 2009, when he took over, the challenge was whether to respond in the traditional way and wait out for the crisis to blow over or take "unconventional steps", referring to the Rs186,00 crore stimulus package to generate internal demand.

He said the risk of taking unconventional measures paid off and in the first two quarters of 2009-10 - in April-June the growth was 6.1 per cent, which rose in July-September to 7.9 per cent.

He added that in the first six months of growth had been 7 per cent against 5.8 per cent in the corresponding period of last fiscal.