New Delhi, Jan 30, : The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Friday placed India''s growth projection for 2008-09 at seven percent, rejecting the five percent projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF had projected a five percent growth for India in 2009 on the plea that world growth rate would be falling to its lowest level since the Second World War.

It had also said that the world economy would shrink by 0.5 percent in 2009.

Amit Mitra, Secretary General of FICCI, however, justified the Indian projection and said, "we disagreed with that projection rate set by IMF, because Indian economy has grown by 7.9 percent, 7.6 percent and 6.8 percent respectively for the first three quarters. The issue is what will happen in the fourth quarter and it is our understanding that even if it takes a 5.8 percent rate for the final quarter, India still ends up with a seven percent of growth," Mitra said.

The world economy is facing a slowdown and experts are concerned that the meltdown of the US economy is fast spreading.

A United Nations agency recently said that up to 51 million jobs worldwide could disappear by the end of this year as a result of the economic slowdown that has turned into a global employment crisis.

While Mitra said that the world economy is contracting and it is bound to affect the Indian economy as well, India could probably emerge as the investment destination.

"I must say when the world economy is contracting and becoming smaller, the Indian economy can show a buoyant growth of 6.5-7 percent. We would stand out as the country of destination to make money because growth still exists," Mitra added.

On Tuesday, India''s central bank (Reserve Bank of India) governor Duvvuri Subbarao said that economic growth could moderate to seven percent in 2008-09, from nine percent of last year, and warned of a higher fiscal gap of at least 5.9 percent of GDP due to extra spending and slowing tax receipts.

India has pledged to spend an extra 1.47 trillion rupees during this financial year to stimulate an economy hit by the global slowdown. The fiscal gap would, however, widen because of debt relief package for farmers, increase in subsidies and rise in wages of government staff. (ANI)