Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed confidence that the economy will surpass 8.5 per cent growth rate this fiscal, and inflation will be manageable at 6.5 per cent by March-end.

He said, although the Indian economy withstood the international financial crisis with fortitude and is now the fastest growing economy in the world after China, there are challenges to the country’s aspiration for growth in double digits. Mr Mukherjee was speaking at the 101st Annual General Meeting of the Bharat Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata yesterday.

In the first two quarters this fiscal, the economy grew by 8.9 per cent. The government’s Mid-Year Analysis had projected the economy to grow by up to nine per cent this fiscal. If nine per cent growth projected in the Mid-Year Analysis is met, the Indian economy will expand at a pace registered during the three years prior to the global financial crisis