Strong fundamentals to help India revert to high growth: Pranab

Pinning hopes on revival of business confidence and strong fundamentals, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the Indian economy would return to the pre-global crisis growth path in the coming years.

"...strong fundamentals of our economy will help us return to a sustained growth path of pre-2008 crisis level in the coming years," he said while addressing a press conference here after taking over as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

India was growing at over 9 per cent before the global financial crisis of 2008 pulled down the growth rate to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09. India has projected a growth rate of 7.6 per cent in 2012-13, up from 6.9 per cent recorded in the previous fiscal.

Mukherjee said that despite the impact of euro-zone debt crisis on the economy, "India has continued to be a front runner in terms of economic growth in the region, which underlines the resilience of the Indian economy.

"The Indian economy is more resilient than many other nations to withstand this fresh round of global economic turmoil, as the bulk of India’s GDP is domestic demand driven," he added.

Mukherjee said the crisis had impacted the Indian economy through low growth, weak business sentiment, declining capital inflows and exchange rate and stock market volatility with attendant implication for investor confidence.