8% growth to cut poverty levels to 6%: Montek

However, it is still at a high level of 28 per cent as seen in 2000. In order to reduce this further, Ahluwalia said, ‘‘I am convinced that if we can accelerate growth to 8 per cent, there is a very good chance that the percentage of poverty will go down to around 6 per cent’’.

On the country’s potential to sustain this growth, Ahluwalia compared India’s performace with that of China and said, ‘‘The economy is now ready to transit from a phase of moderate growth to a new high growth stage where we achieve an average growth rate of about 8 per cent over the next 15 years’’.

India’s growth rate for the past few years averages above 6 per cent, making it the second-fastest growing developing country after China.

With an 8 per cent, he said, ‘‘The kind of severe poverty we see in so many parts of the country today will be a thing of the past.’’ ‘‘Poverty in India as a whole would be reduced to the level that it is now in Punjab.’’

However, for this growth level in the next decade and a half, Ahluwalia said emphasis needed to be paid to increasing the agricultural sector growth. ‘‘Faster agricultural growth must be combined with efforts to accelerate non-agricultural growth to achieve the target growth rate of 8 per cent for the economy as a whole.’’ He stressed on the need to improve infrastructure facilities.