UNCTAD Projects 8.5 P.C. GDP Growth For India

In a conservative estimate, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on Wednesday projected an economic growth of 8.5 per cent for India in the current fiscal, even as the country has already notched up a GDP growth of 9.3 per cent in the first quarter. Although UNCTAD''s forecast for this fiscal is based on the quick official estimates of 9.2 per cent economic growth in 2006-07, which was later revised upwards by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) to 9.4 per cent, the UN agency''s estimate is in keeping with the 8.5 per cent growth projected by the Reserve Bank of India.

Releasing the UNCTAD Trade and Development Report, 2007 here, Nagesh Kumar, Director-General of Research and Information System for Developing Countries, said: These are just preliminary figures I am happy that economists have been proved wrong [in their estimates of Indian economic growth]. With better-than-anticipated growth achieved during the first quarter this fiscal, he said that, as per his personal assessment, he saw no reason why the country''s economy should grow at less than nine per cent during 2007-08.

Despite the impressive performance, India''s growth story still lags behind that of China, the northern neighbour having witnessed over 10 per cent growth each year since 2003. For the current calendar year, the Chinese economy is set grow by 10.5 per cent on top of a high base of 10.7 per cent. Not surprising then that UNCTAD has identified East and South Asia to be the fastest growing economic regions in the world, mainly owing to the robust performances by China and India.