Allaying fears of inflation rising any further, the Planning Commission deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that inflation, will come down significantly by August-September. Speaking on the sidelines of an conference, Ahluwalia said, “Given a certain amount of patience, inflation will come down significantly in three-four months. Prevailing uncertainties in the economy would have resolved themselves by the end of 2008 and we will be back to growth process.” Until recently the inflation was at a 44-month high of 7.83 per cent for the week ended May 3 despite the fiscal and monetary measures taken by the government and the Reserve Bank of India. Referring to the growth rate in India, Ahluwalia said that if the economy grows at a rate of 8 per cent over a period of five years, a target of 9 per cent growth in the Eleventh Plan is not unreasonable. “I am very confident that India is at a position when it will get a higher growth rate in the days ahead,” he added. He said final economic growth figures for 2007-08 would be higher than the projection of 8 per cent plus, as farm sector output has not been adequately accounted for in the estimates. Emphasising on utilising existing technological innovations to the fullest, he added that agricultural growth is inadequate ‘where 50 per cent of population depends upon agriculture for major source of livelihood’. He said “our endeavour should be to improve policies. The good performance of the economy should not be taken for granted.”
