Industrial output shrinks 0.6%, dashes economy recovery hopes

"We can recapture the magic of 2004-08. The average growth was 8.5 per cent during that period," he said on Saturday.

"Why should we, without any reason, denigrate our own performance and record? I have no doubt in my mind that we will come out of the trough and we will climb back to a growth rate of between 6-7 percent next year," he said.

Chidambaram is under political pressure to unveil a growth-oriented budget on Feb. 28 for the next fiscal year, as the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gears up for an election due by early 2014 at the latest.

But he is also faced with the arduous task of trimming a swollen fiscal deficit that has put India's investment-grade credit rating in peril. He has already ordered spending cuts in welfare, defence and road projects for this financial year.

Critics warn that at a time of low growth, lower spending risks deepening the slowdown without helping the deficit-to-GDP ratio.

RATE CUTS MAY HELP

The Reserve Bank of India reduced its policy interest rates by a widely expected 25 basis points on Jan. 29 to spur the economy, and investors hope slower price rises will lead to another.

"Despite incremental efforts we are still staring at a weak growth print," said Jyotinder Kaur, economist at HDFC Bank.

"We expect a rate cut in March as growth is consistently surprising on the downside while the pace of CPI (consumer price inflation) has stabilised."

Consumer price inflation inched up to 10.79 percent in January from 10.56 percent a month ago, according to other data on Tuesday.

January wholesale price index data, which the Reserve Bank of India gives more weight to in setting policy, is due on Friday. The index for December rose 7.18 percent, the slowest in three years.

... contd.

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