Dun & Bradstreet predicts 8% growth for India in '09

NEW DELHI: India is expected to grow by eight per cent in the current financial year driven by the robust growth during the first six months, research firm Dun & Bradstreet said.

"We had, earlier, projected an eight per cent growth for the financial year 2009 and we maintain that. Though there has been a slated fall in the optimism level, the momentum of the first six months will see us through this fiscal," Dun & Bradstreet India Chief Operating Officer Kaushal Sampat said.

Saying that the current credit crunch and global financial turmoil will impact the growth to some extent, Sampat said India has the capability as well as the momentum to tide over the crisis.

Regarding the significant foreign fund outflow from the country, he said Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) are pulling out money from the country not because they do not believe in the India-growth story but because they have redemption pressures in their home countries.

FIIs have pulled out as much as USD 10,053.30 million from the Indian market so far this year.

Though there are a various dampeners such as global turmoil, liquidity pressure, subdued demand and volatility in the equity, commodity as well as forex markets, but historically, the October-December period is considered a strong quarter post-monsoon and during the festive season business optimism is generally positive.