India’s GDP to grow at 7.7 per cent in 2012, 7.9 per cent in 2013: UN report

A United Nations report has pegged India's economic growth at 7.7 per cent in 2012 and 7.9 per cent in 2013, against the Indian government's own estimate of an even low 7.0 per cent growth in the 2012-13 financial year.

The Indian economy will keep a slow pace of growth in the coming years, expanding at 7.7 per cent in 2012 and by 7.9 per cent in 2013, according to the UN report on 'World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012.'

"The downside risks to the regional outlook have sharply increased in recent months... particularly in case of India, the report said, adding, ''Double-dip recessions in Europe and the United States would have a significant impact on economic activities across South Asia."

While India's GDP is expected to grow at 7 per cent in the current fiscal, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the 2012-13 budget should target an 8 per cent growth rate in order to improve the growth momentum of the economy.

"We should be aiming at 8 per cent next year and from then onward, we can build on to a more rapid growth. Most important thing is this regard, in my view, would be a budget that signals a return to fiscal consolidation," Ahluwalia said in an interview with Karan Thapar on CNBC TV-18.

The Indian economy grew at 7.3 per cent in the first half of this fiscal. This has slipped to a two-year low of 6.9 per cent in the third quarter of the fiscal.