Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday exuded confidence that the Indian economy would grow by 8.5 per cent in the next fiscal and accelerate to nine per cent the following year from an estimated 7.2 per cent this fiscal.

Going forward, the country should step up the pace of economic expansion to above 10 per cent per annum in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2107) to generate employment for the youth and remove poverty, the Prime Minister said at a conference on building infrastructure hosted by the Planning Commission.

"We expect to achieve 8.5 per cent growth rate in the year 2010-11...I hope we can achieve growth rate of 9 per cent in the year 2011-12," he said. However, the country should do even better, he said.

"For eliminating poverty and providing productive employment for our young population in the near future, we must aim at accelerating the pace of economic growth to above 10 per cent per annum. This is the growth target which we should work towards for the 12th Five Year Plan," Singh said.

The Prime Minister's remarks assume importance since the original target of nine per cent growth rate in the 11th Five Year Plan is set for a downward revision to little over 8 per cent.

After growing at over 9 per cent in the three preceding year, India's economic growth declined to 6.7 per cent last fiscal due to the global financial crisis. However, due to the three fiscal stimulus packages given by the Government to prop up the economy, the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has estimated economic growth at 7.2 per cent in the current fiscal.