India's union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that he expects the Indian economy to return to the path of high growth and that the current slow down is only temporary.

The Indian economy has been affected with the international gloom resulting from the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone and the slowdown in the US as well as from domestic factors like high inflation and increasing interest rates. The GDP growth rate in the current fiscal year is expected to be around 7.5%, which is lower than the 9 per cent expected earlier.

Mukherjee said that all the ministries and departments have been given instructions on following expenditures. He was speaking at the fourth meeting of the consultative committee associated with the finance ministry. The ministry is closely watching expenditure by ministries and departments as it tries to eliminate wasteful expenditure.

The government has said that it would be difficult to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.6% of gross domestic product in the current fiscal year. Mukherjee noted that the global economy is going through a difficult stage and euro-zone crisis and downturn in external demand had affected exports from the country. Currency volatility and current account deficit remain among the major challenge for the country.