By Manoj Kumar
DUBAI (Reuters) - India's economic growth is expected to exceed 7.3 percent in the current fiscal year and the government will try to convince opposition parties to pass a blocked tax reform, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday.
"The Indian economy is expected to grow better than 7.3 percent - the level achieved last fiscal year - and even at a higher level next year," Jaitley told investors at an Arab-India Economic Forum meeting in Dubai.
Economic growth, Jaitley said, will come despite weakness in rural demand due to poor rainfall in the last two years. A drought has also caused shortages that have led to a spike in prices of pulses and vegetables.
India's retail inflation surged to a four-month high in October and industrial production grew at a slower-than-expected pace in September, latest government data shows.
In a bid to speed up growth, India last week eased foreign direct investment norms in 15 major sectors, including mining, defence and civil aviation.
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But foreign and domestic investors are worried the government's reform agenda could face renewed political opposition after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost a key state election this month.
In an apparent bid to calm such fears, Jaitley said he would persuade opposition parties to pass a business-friendly goods and services tax, that could add up to 2 percentage points to gross domestic product but is blocked in parliament.
"To convince the opposition is top priority," Jaitley said.
(Writing by David French and Aditya Kalra; Editing by Douglas Busvine)