India to meet 7.0 pct growth this year: politicians

DAVOS , Switzerland (AFP) — Indian politicians expressed optimism Saturday that India will achieve seven percent growth this year, saying the economy would resist the global downturn better than fellow Asian giant China.

"The IMF is pessimistic about 2009. We're not," Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, told the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The International Monetary Fund this week projected that India's economy would expand by just 5.3 percent this year, while India's central bank has forecast 7.0 percent. MORE...