New Delhi, Sept 10 (IANS) India will target nearly 10 percent growth in the 12th five-year plan (fiscal 2012-17), even though growth may fall short during the current plan period, said Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
‘Our GDP (gross domestic product) growth target during the 12th plan will be somewhere between 9 to 10 percent. I think 10 percent target is quite feasible,’ Ahluwalia said, adding that during the current plan period GDP growth is likely to remain 8.1 percent.
The planning commission has set 9 percent GDP growth target for the 11th five year plan (fiscal 2008 to 2012). However, in the first three years of the plan, growth has fallen short of the target.
‘Because of the crisis in the global economy, we will not be able to achieve the growth target during the 11th plan. I hope we will achieve overall 8.1 percent growth in the current plan, which is quite good,’ Ahluwalia said here Thursday.
Kaushik Basu, the government’s chief economic advisor, said the GDP growth in the current fiscal was likely to remain above 8.5 percent.
‘I hope in the second and the third quarters, growth will be better than the first quarter. We might surpass the 8.5 percent growth target,’ said Basu, adding the GDP growth would remain between 8.5 to 9 percent during the fiscal 2010-11.
The government targets 8.5 percent GDP growth during the current fiscal. Basu said agriculture growth, helped by an overall good monsoon, was likely to improve substantially in second and third quarters.
— Indo-Asian News Service
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