NEW DELHI: India’s economy will grow at 7.5% in the 2010-11 fiscal beginning April 1 and will be higher at 8% in the following year, a World Bank report released on Monday said. Hans Timmer, director of the World Bank’s Development Prospects Group, said that the projections are based on growth during the first quarter of fiscal 2009-10.
“India has weathered the global crisis relatively well but there are huge inefficiencies in the financial market in developing countries. It is less specialized in manufacturing or natural resources,” he added. India’s central bank Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week projected an impressive 7.5% growth for the Indian economy in the current fiscal.
It had earlier pegged the growth rate at 6% for the current fiscal. Its growth during first quarter in the current fiscal was 6.1% and rose unexpectedly at 7.9%, while the economy grew 6.7% during 2008-09 and 9.1% in 2007-08.
The manufacturing and natural resource sectors have been particularly negatively impacted by the crisis. While India is optimistic of increase in export growth, the World Bank says “imports will continue to outpace export”. “Import volumes are likely to expand and could outpace the recovery in exports,” he remarked.
He also pointed out that India’s growth will benefit from a firming in external demand, particularly by the resumption of growth in high-income countries, which represent about two-thirds of India’s export markets. India’s exports increased 9.3% at $14,606 million (Rs 68,107 crore), while its imports grew at 27% at $24,753 million (Rs 115,420 crore) during December 2009.
Source : TOI