Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is confident of India’s economy growing by more than 8.5 per cent this fiscal, despitepartial roll back of stimulus measures. Addressing heads of Indian Missions in New Delhi Mukherjee said the economy is likely to continue the high growth trajectory in the coming years as well.

Explaining them how India coped with economic challenges, Mukherjee said fundamentals of Indian economy are strong.

Indian economic growth slowed down to 6.7 per cent during 2008-09 from nine per cent in the previous three years after the deepening global financial crisis hit the economy. To blunt the impact of global crisis, the Government came out with stimulus to the economy by cutting taxes and stepping up public expenditure. He said this catapulted economic growth to 7.4 per cent last fiscal. This fiscal, economy is expected to grow by 8.5 per cent, he said.