India Can Average 9 Percent GDP Growth in 2007-12, Singh Says

India can sustain average economic growth of 9 percent annually between 2007 and 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today.

Such growth is ``feasible'', Singh said at a meeting with chief ministers of India's states in New Delhi today, according to a copy of the speech made available to reporters.

India, the world's second-fastest growing major economy, wants to accelerate economic growth to 10 percent to cut poverty in the nation of 1.1 billion people. More than half the nation's population lives on less than $2 a day, according to World Bank estimates.

India's economy has grown more than 8 percent in six of the past seven quarters, gaining 9.2 percent in the three months to Sept. 30. China's $2.2 trillion economy, Asia's second-largest, expanded 10.4 percent in the quarter ended Sept. 30, the quickest pace among the world's 20 largest economies and almost four times the 2.6 percent gain in the 12 European nations sharing the euro.