Chief Statistician Pronab Sen today said it may be difficult to achieve an 8.5 per cent economic growth this fiscal as many uncertainties persist.
"Investments have gone fast, but we have question marks about its sustainability. Credit is growing but not in a way that it would support an 8.5 per cent GDP acceleration. I think there are still uncertainties and question marks," Sen said when asked whether it is possible to achieve 8.5 per cent growth rate as projected by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"The growth drivers continue to be weak. Because consumer demand is not growing that fast," Sen added.
The economy grew by 7.4 per cent last fiscal. Following the global financial crisis, the GDP growth slipped to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 from over 9 per cent in three preceding years.
"In the current fiscal, the economy is expected to grow at 8.5 per cent," the Prime Minister had said while releasing the first-year report card of the UPA-II government yesterday.
On the possibility of achieving double-digit industrial growth in the current fiscal, Sen said: "It is unlikely. You already got nearly 16 per cent IIP in the last quarter of the previous fiscal. That is because of low base affect. Do you want double-digit on top of that. It is a bit too much to expect so."
The FY10 index of industrial production stood at 10.54 per cent against a paltry 2.4 per cent the previous fiscal.
Answering questions on price rise, Sen said: "Inflation is not going to accelerate further. When demand rises without the supply response, you get inflation. But now there is no demand side pressures as we have made very strong investments during the past five months. That would result in huge supply response."
Overall headline inflation touched 9.5 per cent in April, while the food inflation is over 16 per cent in the third week of May.
