India's economy is likely to grow at around 5.5 per cent this fiscal on account of strong farm output, Prime Minister's economic advisor C Rangarajan said today.
"I believe the growth rate can be closer to 5.5 per cent," he told reporters here.
Agriculture growth should be 4-5 per cent in the current fiscal, said Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC). The farm sector growth was 1.7 cent last year.
"Even if we assume that the non-farm sector will grow at the same rate as last year, the GDP growth rate would be closer to 5.5 per cent," Rangarajan said.
Last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also said that the economy will grow at about 5.5 per cent.
India's growth rate slowed to decade low of 5 per cent during the 2012-13 fiscal because of poor performance of the manufacturing sector.
In the Economic Survey earlier this year, the government had projected economic growth to be 6.1-6.7 per cent in the 2013-14 fiscal.
During the April-June quarter, however, GDP growth fell to four year low of 4.4 per cent, compared to 5.4 per cent in the year-ago period.
Rangarajan said the county needs to address the issues that had stymied GDP expansion.
"Agenda for growth can also be called agenda for reforms," he added.
In order to boost growth, the government has taken a number of initiatives including the setting up of Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) for reviving stalled projects. Since January 1, the CCI has cleared projects worth over Rs 3 lakh crore.
