New Delhi, Oct. 7 The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has said that India can still end the current year with a growth rate of 8 per cent despite the financial turmoil across the world.

“I am confident that in 2009-10, the growth rate will bounce back to 9 per cent,” Mr Chidambaram said at the NDTV Business Leader of the Year Awards function here on Monday evening.

Stating that India would to some extent get affected, but indirectly, by the storm blowing across the world, Mr Chidambaram however highlighted that Indian business and industry had placed the country in a situation “where we can weather the storm”.

Indian business and industry has seized the opportunity provided in the last seventeen years to bring about a transformation in the Indian economy, he added.

“We will remain vigilant. Our regulators have shown great agility. You saw SEBI move quickly earlier this evening and RBI also moved quickly immediately thereafter,” he said.

On the cumulative investments of Indian industry and business, Mr Chidambaram said that the estimated cumulative investment at end June 2008 was Rs 66,77,278 crore as against Rs 44,58,840 crore at the end of June 2007. In the first quarter of the current year, new investments amounted to Rs 5,14,266 crore. In July 2008, there was a further investment of Rs 2.13 lakh crore and in August 2008 there was an investment of Rs 1.32 lakh crore.