India’s economy may grow at seven per cent this financial year and the next, said KV Kamath, chief executive officer of ICICI Bank.
Kamath based his estimate on expectations by members of the Confederation of Indian Industry earlier this month that the January-March quarter would produce faster expansion than the preceding three-month period, he said in Mumbai last night.
India’s growth is slowing amid the global recession as export markets dry up, making it harder to meet the government estimate of 7.1 per cent for the year to March 31, following the slowest expansion in five years in the third quarter.
India will start showing signs of recovery from October as the government “sharply steps up” spending and stimulus packages begin to help improve domestic demand, Home Minister P Chidambaram, the country’s finance minister until November, said in Mumbai yesterday .
India will return to 7 per cent growth in the second half of 2009, Chidambaram said.
The nation’s economy will need to grow between 7.6 per cent to 7.7 per cent in the quarter to March 31 to reach 7.1 per cent for the fiscal year, which looks like a “stiff” target, Chidambaram said.
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