GDP to grow by 9%: Montek

Deputy chairman of the planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Tuesday that the Indian economy has the potential to grow by nine per cent over the next five years. "Infact our target is to bring the economy at the 10 per cent growth rate sometime at the end of the eleventh plan period," Mr Ahluwalia said at the fourth Indo-US Economic Summit here. He said that lack of infrastructure is one of the major constraints in the growth of the economy. "We need to spend 9 per cent of the GDP in the infrastructure sector to sustain the growth rate of 9 per cent," said Mr Ahluwalia.
On the occasion the US ambassador to India David Mulford said that one engine to advance macro economic activity across India is further liberalisation in India’s banking and financial markets. "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke last week of the need for a paradigm shift in the economic and commercial use of water. This is an area where reforms that establish a price driven regulatory regime would have major economic benefits as well as positive social policy implications," said Mr Mulford. "Such bold thinking if translated into action will help reshape Indian agriculture so that portable and affordable water is accessible to village households and small farmers, " he said. He said that one sector that can make a positive impact on many of India’s poor especially in rural areas is organised retail.