Kaushik Basu, chief economic adviser to Indian finance ministry today told that in 4-5 years India will outpace China in terms of economic growth. In a couple of years, India’s growth will become 10 percent, exceeding that of China as early as 2014. India’s savings rate will be increased to 40 percent of gross domestic product, from the current 38 percent and this will stimulate economic expansion.

 He was confident that, in the current financial year, India’s GDP may rise more than 7.5, where the central bank forecast for the same is 6 percent. The high savings rate, helped by the relatively large young population of India, will trigger a period of sustained economic expansion and this in turn will make India to cross China’s growth rate in the next four to five years.

 Basu made it clear that there is no plan from Government’s side for a sudden withdrawal of the pro-growth measures that were introduced to shield the economy from a global recession. He also clarified that there is no plan from government’s side to take monetary measures to curb a surge in food prices, as he described the price increase as “very sector-specific, which needs sector-specific intervention.”

 Basu joind as the chief economic advisor of India recently after taking a two-year break from his academic career at Cornell University making him latest high-profile outsider to join the government.