Buoyed by 8.8 per cent growth of the Indian economy in the first quarter this fiscal, industry today said the GDP may expand by around 9 per cent during 2010-11, but cautioned against certain weak areas like financial services.
"Given this trend in GDP growth, we expect to close the year with an overall performance of close to 9 per cent," Ficci President Rajan Mittal said.
Assocham President Swati Piramal said, "overall GDP growth rate for the current fiscal will be between 8.6 per cent to 8.8 per cent as its growth will pick up from third quarter onwards."
Echoing the view, CII said that strong GDP growth in the first quarter of 2010-11 is encouraging and it maintains India's position as the second fastest growing economy in the world after China.
"The economy will grow at 8.5 per cent for the full year," CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.
However, Mittal said that the government should put thrust on sectors like manufacturing and services.
"With the cushion of a better farm sector performance later this year, the policy thrust of the government should be to energise the manufacturing sector and prop up the financial, insurance and real estate services segment that has been lagging behind," Mittal added.
CII too said that the demand side drivers of GDP seem weak with both consumption and investment showing poor growth.
"While growth in the agriculture was strong, the growth rate in mining and construction has been modest. Growth in the services sector could have been stronger if not for the moderation in financing, real estate and business services," Banerjee said.
CII asked the government to implement measures to improve the business environment so that investment inflows continue to remain strong.