FM sees 9-10% growth rate by 2012-13

Exuding confidence over India's growth prospects, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today on Tuesday the country would achieve a "magic" growth figure of 9 to 10 per cent by the beginning of 2012-13.

"I will be happy if I have 7 per cent plus (GDP) for the next year and 8 per cent the year after. After that ... momentum would gather and it would be possible to have 9 to 10 per cent growth surely during the initial years of Twelfth Plan (2012-2017)," he said at the India Economic Summit.

India had planned to end the Eleventh Plan with a growth rate of 10 per cent but the global financial meltdown derailed it.

Having recorded economic expansion of 9 per cent in three consecutive years, the growth rate during 2008-09 slipped to 6.7 per cent.

As regards the current fiscal, the Planning Commission has projected a growth rate of 6.3 per cent, though Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) expects the economy to expand by 6.5 per cent.

"I think before the end of Eleventh Plan, may be by 2012, we will be able to reach a magic (growth) figure," Mukherjee added.