Coalition politics will limit growth of 10 pc: Montek

     New Delhi: Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that although a 10 percent growth looked tempting, the pressures of coalition politics would limit it to a target rate of eight percent. "It is tempting to go for a double digit growth of 10 per cent. But with coalition, it looks hugely difficult. Coalition politics is consistent with eight per cent growth," said Ahluwalia while addressing the India Economic Summit. "Policy requirement for this kind of growth is huge. It is not only change in policies, we also need to see if they are delivering properly. As of now we have a lot to do to achieve the eight per cent growth. Let us be practical and go for eight per cent growth now, though not many people seem to be impressed by such growth," Ahluwalia added. Ahluwalia said that during the 11th Plan, the Commission would also make an effort to incorporate changes, which would indicate whether certain developmental programmes as mentioned in the plans, were undertaken or not. He further said that the government would have to focus on improving the state of infrastructure, education and health for achieving the targeted growth rate of 7-8 per cent in the current year. Sectoral reforms being the key to infrastructure development, the government, he said, had laid out an agenda for public private partnership, adding, "a lot of learning was going on". "In the beginning we may not have got all of it right and now we are trying to make adjustments," he said.