Chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, C Rangarajan on Thursday said the growth projections by International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s were ‘unduly pessimistic,’ and hoped that India will clock around 5.5 per cent growth in the present fiscal.
Earlier this month World Bank slashed India’s economic growth forecast for the current financial year to 4.7 per cent from an earlier projection of 6.1 per cent. While IMF, in its World Economic Outlook, projected an average growth rate of about 3.75 per cent, based on market prices, for India in 2013-14, and said that it is expected to pick up to 5.1 per cent next fiscal. “These institutions are unduly pessimistic. We think the growth rate will be between 5 and 5.5 per cent. We have projected growth rate of 5 per cent earlier, which I think still holds,” Rangarajan said on the sidelines of Global Conference on Financial Inclusion & Payment System here.
Regarding the manufacturing sector which has been in a de-growth phase Rangarajan said “As far as manufacturing is concerned, second half will show a definite improvement. We will see the impact of measures introduced in last five to six months. There will also be a strong pick up in manufacturing in second half.”