ADB pegs India economic growth at 8.2%

NEW DELHI: The Asian Development Bank today said its expects the country's economy to grow by 8.2 percent, which is less than projected by the government and the Reserve Bank.

"Our view is that the 8.2 percent growth forecast for India and the 7.9 percent for Asia this year will sustain. The recovery (from the global downturn) and the growth rate in the continent has been better than in other areas," Asian Development Bank Managing Director General Rajat Nag said here today. ADB had earlier this month upgraded its growth forecast for Asia to 7.9 percent for 2010, up from 7.5 percent projected in April, while keeping the forecast for India unchanged at 8.2 percent.

The ADB forecast is way behind the 9.4-9.5 percent forecast made this month by the IMF, while the government and RBI expect the economy to grow by at least 8.5 percent in this fiscal. Complimenting India and China for playing a pro-active role in implementing fiscal stimulus and monetary stimulus to tide over the crisis, ADB said the Asian countries acted together in emerging from the downturn.

"There was a lot of information sharing and co-ordination between governments if various Asian states during the global slump. That bodes well for regional integration effort in the continent," Nag said.

He said Asian countries need to re-look their model of trade which had relied on exports to a very large extent and called upon these countries, including India, to boost domestic consumption. "Although Asia fared better than many other parts of the world, the crisis did have a detrimental effect on growth and anti-poverty agenda," he said.