India has the potential to achieve and sustain an 8 per cent growth rate. The country had maintained an average growth of 5.7 per cent for a 23-year period, said chief economic adviser Ashok Lahiri.

A number of Southeast Asian countries had maintained higher growth rates for longer periods and there was no reason to believe that India would not do so, he said, while speaking at a panel discussion on the Budget and the Foreign Trade Policy organised by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce.

The government had given a commitment to the courts after the voluntary disclosure of the income scheme that no such scheme would be introduced again. Another amnesty scheme was therefore unlikely, Lahiri said.

The Budget emphasised universal access to quality education and health, which would require money and a good delivery mechanism, he said.

In addition, the government was committed to generating employment and promoting investment. Investment could be public or private and in keeping with that line of thinking, the government had said that it would revisit foreign direct investment caps in telecom, insurance and civil aviation.