Reserve Bank Governor not surprised by 7.4 percent growth rate

Pune (Maharashtra), June 1 (ANI): Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao on Tuesday said that he was not surprised by the whopping growth rate of 7.4 percent as it had been predicted.

The economy posted a whopping growth rate of 8.6% in the January-March quarter of 2010 and also registered 7.4% growth in 2009-10, beating the earlier estimate of 7.2%.

The growth rate was piloted by robust showing in manufacturing sector, which rose 16.3% in the three months through March from a year earlier, compared with a 13.8% gain in the previous quarter.

"The fiscal year 2009-10 was quite encouraging but not surprising because many of you will recall that in our annual policy statement in April we had said growth for 2009-10 will be 7.5% so it is within that range. I am very happy," said Subbarao.

The RBI Governor further assured that Indian economy would not be hampered by Greek debt crisis, as the foreign exchange reserve was quiet comfortable.

"There is no problem at all to our external sector position because of the crisis in Greece. Our foreign exchange reserve is quiet comfortable and we will be able to tide over any sort of contingency," said Subbarao.

"As far as foreign reserve management is concerned shifting from euro to dollar, dollar to euro that we discuss publicly," he added. (ANI)