Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission ha said on Friday that he expects the Indian economy to grow between 7.6 to 8 per cent in the current financial year.

While speaking on the sidelines of an event organized by FICCI, he said that even at the rate of 7.6 per cent, the Indian economy is growing at a speed unmatched in the world.

"Our objective should not be to worry about the fact that it has slowed down, but how to make it grow at 8 per cent plus next year," eh said.

He rubbished suggestions from the industry circles that the increasing of interest rates by the RBI has affected economic growth by saying that the interest rates stand at a level similar to when the economy was registering a growth of 9 per cent.

He also expressed satisfaction over Standard & Poor's ratings of the banking sector that somehow offset Moody's downgrade of the sector earlier. Amid growing indications of a global economic slowdown, the Moody's Investor Service decided to downgrade the outlook for India's banking system to "negative" from "stable" on Wednesday.

Moody said that the slowing growth in the domestic as well as international markets was affecting asset quality, capitalization and profitability of the Indian banks. It said in a statement that a slowdown in growth as well as an increased borrowing by the government is set to reduce funds available in the private credit market.

Mr Ahluwalia said that the banking sector in the country is strong and well regulated and there are no concerns over the financial stability of the banking sector in India.