GDP growth to be much better in 2015-16: Jaitley

New Delhi: India's economic growth is expected to pick up in the current fiscal and will be "much better" in 2015-16, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday.

"The last two years witnessed an economic slowdown. This year may be somewhat better, and next year will be much better," he said here.

Indian economy was growing at over 9 percent for three years before it was impacted by the global financial crisis of 2008. The growth rate fell to sub-5 percent in the last two consecutive fiscals -- 2012-13 and 2013-14.

In the first half of the current fiscal, it improved to 5.5 percent, up from 4.9 percent recorded in 2013-14 fiscal. The government the GDP growth to be 5.5 percent in 2014-15, up from 4.7 percent recorded last year.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said India is among the few countries for which IMF has upgraded its growth outlook. IMF in October has projected India's GDP expansion at 5.6 percent in 2014-15.

The mid-year economic review of the government has projected that the economy has potential to grow at a much faster pace, she added.