PMEAC may up growth projection to 7% from 6.5% for FY '10

The Prime Minister's economic panel today said it could revise upward the economic growth forecast to 7 per cent from 6.5 per cent for the current fiscal on the back of robust economic growth in the second quarter.

"We had earlier estimated it (growth) at 6.5 per cent, but probably it will be higher than that...It could be 7 per cent," the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman, C Rangarajan, told reporters on the sidelines of the Sixth Sir Asked when the Council would revise its projection, he said: "We brought out the outlook only in October. So we probably will do it in January."

Belying economists and analysts' predictions, the economy grew by a significant 7.9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal, up from 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter, and even 7.7 per cent in the July-September quarter in 2008, essentially due to a good showing by the industry and services.

The economy has grown by 7 per cent in the first half of the current fiscal.

In the last fiscal, India's economic growth rate fell to 6.7 per cent after registering growth of 9 per cent in the three preceding years.

Rangarajan said the council needs to see the impact of decline in agricultural products.