The panel said it expected the economy to grow by between 7.5 and 8 per cent in the next financial year after growing 7.1 per cent in the year that ends on March 31.
The forecast for the current fiscal year is slightly higher than the government’s official growth forecast of 6.9 per cent issued earlier this month.
The Indian economy has lost momentum as euro zone debt troubles coupled with high interest rates and policy paralysis at home have hit capital investment.
“By and large, the difficult situation on the external front must be taken into account while making any projection for the growth,” said C. Rangarajan, head of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s economic advisory council.
“The investment rate has been coming down since the crisis year (of 2008),” he added.
The advisers expect the farm sector to grow an annual 3 per cent in the current fiscal year against the government’s official projection of 2.5 per cent.
It expects construction activity to expand 6.2 per cent compared with 4.8 per cent estimated by the government. — Reuters
