Kalam says economy poised for 10 pct growth

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's economy, Asia's fourth-largest, is poised to expand by 10 percent annually thanks largely to strong demand and increasing foreign investment, the president said on Thursday.
The economy has expanded at an 8 percent clip for the past three years and is expected to grow at a faster pace in the financial year ending March 2007.
In the first half of the 2006/07 fiscal year, the economy grew at an annual rate of 9.1 percent and is expected to expand by 9.0 percent over the full year.
"Our gross domestic product which stands at $729 billion is poised to grow at 10 percent annually," President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said in his Republic Day eve address to the nation.
Since 1991, India has gradually opened its economy to more competition and encouraged freer international trade.
Industrial output in November grew at its fastest annual pace in more than a decade, suggesting the economy was maintaining the brisk growth rate of the latest quarter.

Source: Reuters