India to grow at around 7% in this and next fiscal: Rangarajan

NEW DELHI: The economy is expected to grow at a moderate level of around 7 per cent in the current and the next fiscal, but would bounce back in 2010-11, noted economist and Rajya Sabha member C Rangarajan said on Thursday.

"The growth rate for 2008-09 would be about 7 per cent and for the next fiscal also it will be around 7 per cent. In 2010-11, it will pick up, depending on the global scenario," Rangarajan told reporters here.

On recovery of industrial growth to 2.4 per cent in November from a dismal negative growth of 0.3 per cent in the previous month, Rangarajan said it would be around 5 per cent for the current fiscal.

"There may be some improvement from January onwards but over the year Industrial growth would be low... around 5 per cent," said Rangarajan, who headed the PM's Economic Advisory Council earlier.

Industrial growth stood at 3.9 per cent during April- November, 2008.

Rangarajan said the fiscal stimulus packages given by the government is adequate for the current fiscal and due to the liquidity injection into the system by the RBI, the banking system has enough fund.

The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman Suresh Tendulkar had also said the current fiscal is likely to end with a minimum GDP growth rate of 7 per cent, down from 7.7 per cent projected earlier by PMEAC.

The council will revise its growth rate projection soon. There would be some slowdown in the second half of the current fiscal, Tendulkar had said.