Press Trust Of India / New Delhi May 13, 2009, 00:13 IST
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today held discussions with key economists on a day the country’s industrial output contracted to a 16-year low amidst global economic downturn.
Singh had consultations with Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC), Suresh Tendulkar and Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Virmani. Facing the heat of global financial meltdown, India’s industrial output in March fell for the second month in a row and contracted by 2.3 per cent, the lowest in 16 years.
During 2008-09, which saw the impact of unprecedented global financial turbulence, the industrial growth rate decelerated sharply to 2.4 per cent against a high of 8.5 per cent in the previous financial year. After achieving average nine per cent GDP growth in the last four years, the country’s economy is estimated to have grown by 6.5 per cent in 2008-09.