New Delhi, Dec. 1 : P Chidambaram took charge as the country’s new Home Minister on Monday after Shivraj Patil resigned from the post owning responsibility for Mumbai terror attacks last week.

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will look after the finance ministry.

Assuming his new charge on Monday, Chidambaram told reporters this morning that he was looking forward to his responsibilities in the Home Ministry, and would apply the same principles and work ethic that he had used in the Finance Ministry. Commenting on the state of the economy he said "We will have a reasonable growth rate this fiscal year and the inflation will be moderate. There will be a slowdown in India but there would not be any recession.”

He expressed confidence that the Indian economy would notch up 7-8% growth rate in the current fiscal.

”The Prime Minister can handle the finance portfolio far better than anyone”,

he added.

I am confident that the people of this country will applaud the economic performance of the current UPA Government in the center under the guidance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," he said. (ANI)