Growth disappointing, things will look up next fiscal: Montek

Says working with 5% growth figures is not unreasonable

Expressing disappointment over growth slowing to 5% this fiscal, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said that things would look up in next financial year.     

"I don't think the evidence is very strong at the moment that there is a bounce, and that is a disappointment. But working with 5% is not unreasonable," he said while commenting on the Economic Survey which pegged the growth rate for the 2012-13 at 5%.

The document which was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister P Chidambaram has projected the growth rate for next fiscal at 6.1-6.7%.

Ahluwalia said, "6.1-6.7% growth is what we should be aiming at ... The key is what we do next fiscal. The impediments to investment are being addressed by Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) and higher growth is possible. Good sense and good economics will survive."     

He further said that the economic growth for the fiscal year will mainly depend on a bounce in the last quarter (January-March).

The Central Statistical Organisation has projected 5% economic growth in the current fiscal in its advance estimates released earlier this month.

The economic growth in the first half (April-September) of this fiscal was almost a decade low at 5.4% down from 7.3% in the same period a year ago.