India to clock 8% growth over next few years: S&P

NEW DELHI: Backed by broadening of domestic consumption base, S&P Global Ratings today projected India to clock a "steroid-free" growth of 8 per cent over the next few years.

In its 'APAC Economic Snapshots--September 2016' report, S&P said India's structural reform agenda has maintained strong momentum and should propel growth higher.

"For India, we are still forecasting GDP growth at about 8 per cent over the next few years. Moreover, this is relatively high quality, "steroid-free" growth backed by a broadening consumption base," S&P said.


Country's structural reform agenda has maintained strong momentum, most recently with the GST passage, and should propel growth higher, it added.

"Inflation remains a risk, given the large weights on food, fuel, and other volatile items in the Reserve Bank of India's target basket," S&P said.

The latest gross domestic production (GDP) figures showed that India's growth slowed to 7.1 per cent in the April-June quarter, from 7.9 per cent in January-March period.

Reserve Bank has also said the near-term growth outlook for India seems brighter than last fiscal and the economy is likely to expand at 7.6 per cent in 2016-17.