PM terms five-year growth target of 8% 'ambitious'

New Delhi: India’s economic annual economic growth target of 8 percent for the next five years is “ambitious”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday.

The country should aim for an 8 percent average growth over the five years beginning April 2012, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the planning commission, said on Wednesday.

India’s is battling its worst slowdown in a decade. Economic growth for the current fiscal year that ends in March is forecast to be 5.7-5.9 percent, the slowest since 2002/03.

Singh, speaking at an event to finalise targets for the country’s next five-year plan, also said that early implementation of a goods and services tax was critical to boost the tax/GDP ratio.

He added that subsidies on energy products should be limited, with a phased adjustment of prices.

Reuters