Mukherjee projects 6 percent farm sector growth

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday projected farm sector growth of 6 percent and hoped the dip in factory output in November was temporary. 'With normal monsoons, we are looking at a significant rebound in agriculture and allied sector growth at about 6 per cent,' the finance minister said. 'Exports have also done reasonably well with growth in April-November 2011 at 26.7 percent,' he said at a pre-budget meeting with economists. In the first half of 2010-11, the Indian economy recorded an overall growth of 8.9 percent, back on the high growth path in the years prior to the global financial crisis, he said. 'The recovery has been broad-based with agriculture, industry and services all contributing to the consolidation of the growth momentum,' he said. 'Though industrial growth during November 2010 has slipped to 2.7 percent, cumulative growth from April is still high at 9.5 percent compared to 7.4 percent during the corresponding months of 2009-10.' This was the fifth in the series of pre-budget consultations held by the finance minister with stakeholders of different sectors. The others were with stakeholders in agriculture, captains of Indian industry, representatives of different trade unions and NGOs. Mukherjee said India was fortunate in surviving the global financial crisis without major disruptions and had recovered its growth momentum much faster than most others.