“And for the next year, on the basis of this year, [the] growth would definitely be somewhere in the range of eight [per cent],” Sitharaman said.

She noted that while the Indian finance ministry has not done any assessment as yet about the growth number, but the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and rating agencies have all come nearer to this kind of growth number for India.

The talk was organised by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.

“So, the next year would also be somewhere in the range of eight to nine (per cent), 7.5 to 8.5 (per cent) would be the growth. And I expect that to be sustained for the next decade because of the rate at which expansion in core industries is happening, the rate at which services are growing, I don't see a reason for India to be any way lesser than in the next coming decades,” she was quoted as saying by a news agency.

“And in that, at least from the data which has been released yesterday and the week before, I can say that India's growth this year will be the highest in the world, of course, based on a lower base of last year, but that will continue into the next year. And even there, we will be one of the fastest-growing economies,” she added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)