Pranab sticks to GDP forecast of 8.5-8.75 per cent

Kolkata, Feb 4 (PTI) The economic growth rate wouldremain between 8.5 per cent and 8.75 per cent for the currentfiscal, as predicted in the last year''s budget, FinanceMinister Pranab Mukherjee said today.

"I am sticking to the projection of 8.5 to 8.75 percent for the year 2010-11, which I had made in my budgetspeech," Mukherjee said at the convocation ceremony of theIndian Statistical Institute here.

However, he said the government wants inclusivedevelopment and not just a rise in the GDP numbers.

"Growth is not all. We want growth for inclusivedevelopment. Direct intervention and confrontation againstpoverty are the biggest challenge for the management of theeconomy," the minister said.

The success of politicians depend on the how they managethese constraints, he felt.

Urging the youth to come forward in support ofinclusiveness, he said that the country''s future is safe inthe hands of next generation.

"The future is safe in their hands because they don''thave any baggage from the past. They are not scared of thechallenges that lie ahead of them," Mukherjee said.

A recent survey sponsored by the Reserve Bank of Indiahad revised the country''s economic growth projections for thecurrent fiscal to 8.7 per cent, from 8.5 per cent earlier.