India expects to grow at 9 per cent by 2011-12: PM

New Delhi: India expects to grow at 9 per cent by 2011-12, said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh while addressing the G-20 Toronto Summit. He added that the fiscal deficit is expected to halve in the next three years.

The Prime Minister told the world leaders present at the summit that the Indian Government is working to reverse the fiscal stimulus which was introduced to deal with the 2008 crisis and also put forth the ways in which India was handling the current economic situation. He added that effective fiscal and monetary stimulus has enabled the country to fight the global crisis.

In his address at the Working Session of the Summit PM said, "After growing at 9 per cent for four years before the crisis, our economy averaged about 7 per cent growth in the last two years. We expect to grow by 8.5 per cent in 2010-11 and we hope to go back to 9 per cent by 2011-12."

He said, "We are taking steps to reverse the fiscal stimulus we had introduced to deal with the crisis. To this end we have outlined a medium term plan to halve the fiscal deficit by 2013-14."

He stated that the government is providing a stimulus for investment in infrastructure with focus on private-public partnership.