NEW DELHI, FEB 5: Finance Minister Yashawnt Sinha today said economic growth this fiscal would be more than six per cent against the 5.9 per cent projected by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO)."It will be more than six per cent GDP growth," Sinha told reporters after a seminar on 'Smuggling and Drug Trafficking', organised by the finance ministry here. Admitting that "growth in agriculture will be subdued," Sinha said the industry will, however, do much better as exports were picking up. These factors will have a positive effect on the domestic output and the growth during the current fiscal would be more than 6%, he said, adding that he was not disputing the CSO estimates.Adequate and timely rainfall would increase the agricultural output, he said, pointing out that the foodgrain production has exceeded 200 million tonnes. However, he said "it is a fact that growth in agriculture sector always pushes the growth of the economy ahead." Core sector industry is poised for a good growth, he said,and added that credit offtake by cement sector was to the tune of 60%. On his earlier remarks on the forthcoming budget that "we will bite the bullet on February 29," he said these are words from the Oxford dictionary and declined to be drawn into any further comments.On increased borrowings during the second half of the current fiscal, Sinha said cutting down on borrowing would ultimately depend on the fiscal deficit. On his earlier remarks that disinvestment targets are not being met, he said not meeting the targets did not put any question mark on the process of divestment.CSO had yesterday released its estimates putting the growth of economy at 5.9 per cent this fiscal against 6.8 per cent in 1998-99, mainly due to a slump in agriculture growth. It had said that GDP is projected to decelerate due to a dismal 0.8 per cent growth in agriculture sector as compared with 7.2% last year despite a seven per cent growth in manufacturing sector. Earlier estimates by the government and the central bank forGDP growth in 1999/2000 have ranged between 6 and 7 per cent.CSO had said it based its latest estimate on growth rates of over five per cent in many sectors including manufacturing, electricity, gas and water supply, construction, trade, hotels, transport, communication and financial services. GDP at current prices is expected to grow by 9.6% compared to 16.5% last year. The official estimate is slightly lower than the projections of National Council for Applied Economic Research at six per cent.CSO estimated GDP at constant prices, based on 1993/94 prices, to reach Rs 11,45,436 crore in 1999/2000, up from the estimate of Rs 10,81,834 crore in the previous year. Per capita income worked out to Rs 15,841 ($363.3) for the country's population of 991 million, it said. Per capita income at real terms during the year is likely to attain a level of Rs 10,151 as compared to the quick estimates for the year 1998-99 of Rs 9,739 per annum. CSO said output from the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector wouldgrow by only 0.8 per cent year-on-year in 1999/2000, sharply down from 7.2 per cent in the previous year.Most other sectors are expected to show an improvement in 1999/2000 over the previous year, with the manufacturing sector leading the way with a year-on-year growth of 7 per cent in 1999/2000, compared to 3.6 per cent a year earlier. The mining and quarrying sector is expected to post a 0.4 per cent growth in the current financial year after a 0.5 per cent decline the previous year. Other sectors expected to record strong growth include financing, insurance, real estate and business services which are forecast to grow by 10.5 per cent in 1999
