Seeking to allay concerns about slowdown in the country in view of global meltdown, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said no effort would be spared to "neutralise" to the "maximum" its adverse impact on India and asserted that the economy would grow at eight per cent.

Assuring that the country had the resilience to cope with the present global financial meltdown, he cited the economic crisis of 1991 and said the situation was "more" serious but was overcome efficiently.

"No instruments of public policy will be spared. We will use fiscal, monetary, public investment and exchange rate" to tackle the current crisis, he said, addressing a summit in New Delhi.

Noting that the world is in the midst of a "deep crisis" and going through "choppy waters", Singh said, "in a globalised world we cannot pretend that we will not be affected by the crisis that has not been created here but somewhere else.

"But I assure that despite the international environment, we have the capacity and ability to sustain the growth rate of about eight per cent and will do so," the economist-Prime Minister said.

He said the government is fully committed to ensuring that the country's industry "sails and sails, not in the choppy waters but moves ahead with speed."

"We can and we will survive this crisis and emerge stronger if we have the imagination and will to work together," Singh said as he warned that "competitive politics" could hamper this process.

"We will through the use of fiscal policies, through the use of monetary policies, through the use of public investment ensure that the shortage of demand coming as it is from the global slowdown is neutralised to the maximum possible extent," he said.

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