Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured the nation Thursday that the Indian economy will again witness rapid growth thanks to the steps taken in recent months for speedier industry clearances, building infrastructure and boosting inflow of overseas capital.
"I believe this phase of slow growth in India will not last long. In the last nine years, our economy has grown at an annual average rate of 7.9 percent. This pace of development is the highest in any decade so far," the prime minister said in his Independence Day address here.
He said several steps had been taken in recent months to ensure removal of bottlenecks for infrastructure development, speed up clearances for industry and attract further foreign investment with enhanced sector-specific caps.
"In the coming months, we will see visible results of these efforts to increase investment. Our growth will accelerate, new employment opportunities will be generated and there will be improvements in the infrastructure sector," he said.
"In the recent months, there has been much discussion on the fact that last year our growth rate came down to 5 percent. This is indeed true and we are trying our best to remedy the situation."
