Mumbai: The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7-8 per cent even during the current ''difficult fiscal year'' and has the potential for even higher growth, finance minister P Chidambaram said during the debate on the vote of confidence motion in the Lok Sabha today.

Defending the UPA government's performance on the economic front, he said the Indian economy recorded a growth of 9.1 per cent during fiscal 2007-08 against 9 per cent reported earlier.

But, he said, there care political parties that do not want the country to gain economic parity with neighbouring China, which has consistently been showing double-digit growth during the past few years.

The finance ministry has revised the earlier estimates based on record agricultural production, Chidambaram said.

''The latest estimates of agricultural production have come in and the economy has grown close to 9.1 per cent,'' Chidambaram said.

Fiscal 2007-08 was a watershed year for the Indian farm sector with food grain production reaching a record of 230.67 million tonnes, up 6.16 per cent over the previous year.

The first (advance) estimate of GDP growth for 2007-08, released on February 7, pegged it at 8.7 per cent. This number was subsequently revised to 9 per cent in the revised estimates released on May 30 this year. The third (quick) estimate for the year will be released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on January 31 next, followed by a final number around a year later.

Chidambaram also pointed at the irony of the BJP and Left – the two opposing political parties - joining hands against the government, adding, the BJP and the NDA, unlike the Left, seemed to agree that India needs to end nuke isolation.

''Yet the two are voting against the motion,'' the FM said.

''NDA is for strategic relations with US while Left is staunchly against this; the NDA is for making India a nuclear weapons state while the Left is dead against nuclear weoponisation.''

''I doubt if Indian Parliament has seen something more bizarre than these two groups voting together,'' Chidambaram said.

The finance minister concluded by saying the time for India was now. And that we could make our future if we have the vision and farsightedness.