Economy to do better in H2: FM

Painting a rosy picture about the economy based on the buoyant outlook projected by the mid-year review, finance minister P Chidambaram today said he was optimistic that the second half performance would be better than the first half.

"The review has projected a good and above 7% growth for this year while several other agencies have said it would be about 7.5%," Chidambaram said.

Inflation was expected to be around 5%, he said, adding that the review has identified some areas of concern, namely coal and electricity.

He added that the mid-year review has not mentioned anything about disinvestment as it was now out of the budget purview.