"The Reserve Bank of India has projected the economy to grow at a rate between 6-6.5 per cent in the current fiscal.

This is consistent with all analysis as well," he said inaugurating the economic editors' conference in New Delhi. 

"I wish to point out that even at a relatively lower growth rate of 6 per cent plus for the current year, India will continue to be one of the fastest growing economies of the world," he said.

"On the back of last year's 8.2 per cent growth, which was on a low base of 4 per cent in the previous year, any growth rate of over 6 per cent should be considered satisfactory," he said.

Although the economy clocked 7.4 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2004-05, Chidambaram cautioned that the remaining three quarters may witness "moderate" growth due to the adverse impact of deficient rains in some parts of the country and high oil prices in global markets.

"Rainfall was deficient in 13 out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions in the country. This is likely to affect the overall level of kharif output," he said.

However, he added that prospects for rabi crop continue to remain favourable, thereby seeking to allay apprehensions regarding a much lower level of agriculture output for the year.

"Food grain stocks at the beginning of November were more than 6 million tonnes higher than the buffer stock norms, indicating comfortable levels of food supplies," he said.

While deficient rains have forced government to have moderate expectations on farm sector growth, Chidambaram said "Our confidence regarding the overall growth of the economy has been strengthened by the resilience displayed by industry and services."

Industrial growth continued to be buoyant after logging 7.9 per cent growth in the first half of 2004-05, with robust performance of manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, he said, adding services sector posted 9.5 per cent growth during the same period.

The external sector has grown strength-to-strength with current account surplus at about $2 billion during the first quarter of this fiscal.

While foreign exchange reserves have crossed $122 billion till now, foreign direct investment inflows were at $2 billion in the first half of this fiscal, he said.