Economy to grow by 7.5% this fiscal, says FM

India's economy is poised to grow by 7.5 per cent this fiscal and will top 8.5 per cent in the next on the back of a strong industrial recovery, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

The Industrial Production figures suggest the economy will grow by 7.5 per cent this fiscal and perhaps over 8.5 per cent in the next fiscal, Mukherjee told reporters here.

The Index of Industrial Production, or the measure of the country's factory output, surged to a 16-year-high of 16.8 per cent in December, led by a robust performance by manufacturing, particularly consumer durables, indicating that demand was picking up across sectors.

Analysts say the industry is set for a good showing in January as well. Research services provider Dun &Bradstreet (D&B) expects industrial production to have grown by 13.5-14.5 per cent for the month.

D&B revised upwards its growth forecast for the third quarter to 7.3 per cent yesterday after taking into account the stunning performance by the industry.

"We have revised our GDP forecast for Q3 to 7.3 per cent, from the earlier 6.8 per cent, given the buoyancy witnessed in industrial activity in this quarter," D&B said in a release here today.

...