Economic growth potential higher than 7-7.5 percent - finance minister

By Daniel Bases

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday that economic reforms in the legislative pipeline can push India's economic growth rate above the 7 to 7.5 percent range.

India's economy, Asia's third largest, is expected to grow 7.5 percent this year, according to the latest World Bank forecast, which would make it the world's fastest growing economy in 2015. The government has a growth forecast of 8.1-8.5 percent while the central bank has a 7.6 percent gross domestic product growth target.

"Neither the government, nor the people, nor the industry whose representatives, some of whom are here, nobody is very excited about a 7-7.5 percent growth rate in India," Jaitley said during a discussion with Timothy Geithner, president of investment firm Warburg Pincus and a former U.S. Treasury Secretary.

"Because a series of reform fixes which are in the pipeline and are to be implemented, we have now identified all the problem areas, and I think one by one as we go resolving most of them, hopefully we should reach what our destination targets are," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, one year in power, has sparked optimism that he can implement economic reforms and alleviate bureaucratic overload in India that is seen as a hindrance to attracting foreign investment and ultimately stronger economic growth.

(Reporting By Daniel Bases; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)