Economy to grow at 5.5-6%, says Rangarajan

The economy is expected to grow at 5.5-6 per cent in the current fiscal and the next year will see a better rate of expansion, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan said today.

"I think the overall growth rate of the economy will be between 5.5-6 per cent," he said on the sidelines of the Delhi Economics Conclave here.

Growth in the first half of 2012-13 has fallen to 5.4 per cent, from 7.3 per cent in the same period last fiscal. For the entire 2011-12 fiscal, the growth had declined to 9-year low of 6.5 per cent. The Reserve Bank, meanwhile, expects it to be 5.8 per cent in the current fiscal.

Rangarajan said: "The economy will do better in the second half. I think the manufacturing sector could grow...at about 3 per cent this fiscal." He said the reforms are again back on the forefront and "many measures have been taken. Therefore, I believe the sentiment is already changing".

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