India can bounce back to 8 % growth “in coming years”: Montek

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, said in London on Wednesday that India has all that is required requirements to return to a GDP growth rate of 8 per cent ''in coming years''.

Speaking at a seminar at an Oxford college, Ahluwalia admitted that the current account deficit is a major hurdle.

"India has averaged 7.5 per cent growth in the last 10 years. It should have done that for 15 years; but it is possible to bring it back to the average performance of the last decade.

He said the target for the upcoming fiscal year, 2013-14, is 6.5-7 per cent but should then accelerate. ''The country has all the requirements to return to 8 per cent growth, even if it is later than expected," he told the gathering of students and academics in the historic UK university town of Oxford.

"A little over 5 per cent is a slowing down; but the whole world is experiencing a slowing of growth. It is a worry because we expect much more but it is not as big a disaster as the media makes it out to be. Growth is important but that growth has to be inclusive and sustainable," Ahluwalia said.

The country's leading economic strategist also stressed that the pace of poverty reduction in the country was within the target set by the government.