Economy to grow by 5.5-6 percent this fiscal: Rangarajan

"My assessment is that the growth for the current year (2012-13) will be 5.5 percent to six percent," Rangarajan told mediapersons on the sidelines of a programme here.

The former Reserve Bank of India governor foresaw a rise in the growth figure for 2013-14.

"I think next year the growth will be one percent higher, around seven percent," he said.

On his recent comments pitching for higher tax rates for the super-rich, Rangarajan said the definition of "super-rich" has to be determined by taxes they pay and their income levels.

"The idea is that people above a certain income level should be taxed. There are two ways of raising the tax rates for the super-rich. The highest tax slab is 30 percent. We can add an additional higher slab, or we can keep the slab the same but impose a surcharge for income above a particular level," he said.

Rangarajan said the logic behind the idea is that the tax-GDP ratio should go up as there was need for greater money flow into the economy.

However, he replied in the negative when asked whether a formal proposal has been placed before the union finance ministry on taxing the super rich. "This is only an idea," Rangarajan said.