Emerging economies can expand without growth in US

Emerging economies can expand at a "reasonable pace" in the next four to five years even if growth in developed nations is moderate, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

India's economy is forecast to grow by 8.5 per cent this year, he said in his keynote address at the World Capital Markets Symposium organised by Malaysia's Securities Commission.

However, he expressed the hope that India's GDP growth rate will go up to 9 per cent in the near future.

He said developing countries will be able to maintain strong economic growth rates, even though the primary drivers have slowed down. Ahluwalia also noted that India needed to pump in a lot more into its infrastructure development programme.

Commenting on the state of the world economy, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman said that growth was anaemic and there were fears of a global slowdown.

He noted that growth in the US, the world's biggest economy, has been sputtering, but emerging markets were doing well.