In July 2011 the Council had released its Economic Outlook taking the view that \the Indian economy would grow by 8.2 per cent in 2011/12. This was lower than the provisional estimate of 8.5 per cent growth for the previous year (2010/11)

Economic Outlook for 2011-12 says that in 2010/11, the 8.5 per cent growth rate achieved by the economy was in line with the Council's projections in the Economic Outlook of July 2010. There were some variations in the sectoral growth rates.

The performance of the Indian economy in 2009/10 greatly exceeded
expectations. The farm sector which was expected to contract showed resilience, growing by 0.2 per cent despite the weak South West monsoon. The non farm sector also did well. It is the assessment of the Council that the Indian economy would grow at 8.5 per cent in 2010/11 and 9.0 per cent in 2011/12.

Economic growth in the five year period from 2004/05 to 2008/09, despite the crisis-affected year of 2008/09, was at an average of 8.5 per cent. This clearly represented an acceleration in the pace of growth and marks a distinct break from any previous five year period. Per capita GDP grew by an average of 6.9 per cent in these five years and by 7.8 per cent in the three years 2005/06 to 2007/08.

Marking a distinct break from the past the economy grew at an average of 8.5 per cent and the per capita GDP at 6.9 per cent in the five-year period from 2004/05 to 2008/09, despite the crisis-affected year of 2008/09.