timulus should push the growth close to 7%: Planning Commission

The Indian economy is likely to expand at 6.5-7% in the next fiscal, according to Abhijit Sen, a member of Planning Commission on Wednesday.He said that the stimulus measures unveiled so far by the government were expected to push growth, adding that there will be a need for more fiscal and monetary measures to reach close to the 7% mark.

He also said that in the worst case scenario, the growth could dip to as low as 5%. This will, however, happen if there was no impact of the stimulus packages and other measures to protect the economy from global downslide.

The government estimates have placed the growth in current fiscal at 7.1%. However, after the poor show of numbers for the December quarter, most economists believe that economy will be able to expand at around 6.7% only. Things may get even tighter next fiscal and the first half will certainly see greater challenges for growth. However, if the global scenario does not worsen further, Indian economy does seem to have a good chance to move on to recovery by third quarter of FY10.