India has potential to achieve 5% plus growth: Mayaram

Mayaram's comments come a day after IMF drastically scaled down India's growth rate to a mere 3.8% at market rate

India's Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram has said the country still has the potential for achieving a growth rate of more than 5% this fiscal year, a day after the IMF drastically scaled down India's growth rate to a mere 3.8%.

"India has generally surprised critics. I think at the end of the year you will see that we will surprise them again," Mayaram said.

"The fact is that one needs to look at hard numbers. We believe and we still believe that we have in the current fiscal we have the potential of going beyond 5%," he said.

Mayaram is currently in Washington to attend the annual plenary meeting of the IMF and the World Bank.

The Indian delegation to the meeting is being led by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who arrived here last evening.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, released early this week, the IMF on Tuesday had said that India will grow only 3.8% in the 2013-14 financial year against projected 5.6% in its July forecast, a cut of 1.8% points; which is said to be the steepest.