Indian economy will return to the robust growth path of 7 per cent to 8 per cent in the next two to three years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday.

During question hour in the Lok Sabha, Dr. Singh admitted that the economy suffered slowdown in the past two years, but added that the government was confident that a robust growth would reemerge in the coming years.

Speaking on the topic, Dr. Singh said, "As the Finance Minister mentioned in his Budget Speech, we are confident that in 2-3 years' time, we will return the economy back to the robust growth path of 7-8 per cent."

Dr. Singh also claimed that the government had taken numerous steps to help the economy return on to the robust growth path.

For the persistent slowdown, he blamed international factors like the banking crisis of 2008-09 and the Euro Zone crisis of 2011.

In the current fiscal year, Indian economy is expected to growth at a rate of just 5 per cent - the lowest in nearly a decade.

Separately, Finance Minister P Chidambaram claimed that various steps taken by the government would arrest soaring inflation. Mr. Chidambaram's claim followed the release of latest official data that showed that retail inflation remained in double digits (10.91%) for the third consecutive month in February.