No economic growth targets set for FY12, FY13: govt

The government today said it has not set any specific target for the country's economic growth for year 2011-12 and 2012-13.

"No specific annual targets are set by the government for real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

He was replying to a question on the target set by the government for economic growth for 2011-12 and 2012-13.

Meena said the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook (WEO) has projected India will grow in calendar year 2011 and 2012 by 8.2% and 7.8%, respectively.

"The growth rates for emerging and developing economies and for India, projected by the WEO, for the year 2012 is less than that for 2011. While year-on-year a modest decline is projected, there is no discernible declining trend," he said.

The minister pointed to the government efforts towards accelerating economic growth.

"The government had pursued prudent macroeconomic policies on an ongoing basis with a counter-cyclical focus in recent year, strengthened structural measures to promote growth, develop product as well as financial markets, and increased social spending to provide a stronger foundation to protect the poor," Meena said.

Meena's reply comes a week after the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) projected India will grow by 8.2% in 2011-12.

The Indian economy had expanded by 8.5% last fiscal.

The government in its pre-Budget survey has put its growth projection at 9% (plus or minus 0.25%) for this fiscal.

Besides, the Reserve Bank in it annual monetary policy said the Indian economy would grow by 8% in 2011-12.

The Finance Ministry is going to come out with revised growth projections in September. Senior ministry officials, including chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu, have said that they expect Indian economy to grow by around 8.5% in 2011-12.