Indian economy to grow between 6.5 to 7 pc: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said that the economy will pick up in the second part of the fiscal and will grow between 6.5 to seven per cent.

Participating in the annual CII Conference here, Ahluwalia said that more fiscal and monetary measures might be necessary in future to achieve the growth target.

" The industries would also have to prepare themselves for the global competition in the wake of the economic crises," he added.

Asserting the impact of the fiscal and monetary packages announced earlier, he said it would start showing results in the current fiscal as the volatility in the economy is almost over.

Reserve Bank Governor Dr. Duvvuri Subbarao said once the global economic crisis is over, India's economic growth will be faster than the rest of the world.

He said the decline in inflation to 0.27 per cent in the second week of March as a positive feature.

He further added that the impact of global economic crises on Indian economy in being constantly monitored and asserted that the bank took all possible action in the last six months to reduce its impact.

Since October, the RBI has slashed its main lending rate by 400 basis points to shield the economy from the global financial crisis and also to shore up activity.

In this context, Dr. Subbarao said that 2009-10 would be a challenging period unless business confidence and investment are revived. Further, he said that cuts in policy rates needed to flow through to the broader economy. (ANI)