IndiaConstruction_Feb2016
India expects its economy to grow 7-7.75 percent in the fiscal year to March 2017, a key government report said Friday. Here, workers sit on scaffoldings as they work at the construction site of a flyover on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, Feb. 26, 2016. REUTERS/Amit Dave

Ahead of the national budget to be presented on Feb. 29, India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the Economic Survey 2015-16 in the Parliament Friday, which projected the country’s gross domestic product for the 2016-17 financial year to grow at between 7 and 7.75 percent. The report added that the country had substantial potential to grow its GDP at about 8 to 10 percent in the long term.

According to the survey, prepared by Arvind Subramanian, chief economic advisor to India’s Ministry of Finance, the government was also on track to meet its fiscal deficit target of 3.9 percent for the current financial year that ends on March 31. The survey also projected a growth rate of 7.6 percent for the ongoing financial year.

The current account deficit for the financial year beginning April 1 is projected to be between 1 and 1.5 percent of the GDP, which would be a sharp rise from the 0.7 percent in the current financial year, as projected by Nomura earlier this month.

The report also envisages consumer inflation to be between 4.5 and 5 percent in the 2016-17 financial year. According to the latest data available with India’s central bank, consumer price inflation in the country stood at 5.69 percent at the end of January. Lower oil prices are expected to help keep inflation low.

India's benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed about 0.8 percent higher Friday. It fell all four days of trade earlier in the week.

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