Full Planning Commission is expected to approve the recommended cut down of average annual growth target for the 12th Five Year Plan from 9 per cent to 8.2 per cent.

Members of the planning commission, headed by the Prime Minister, will meet today. The meeting will also be attended by key Cabinet ministers.

An average annual growth target of 9 per cent was envisaged in the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan, but ongoing global economic issues forced authorities to scale it down to 8.2 per cent. However, even the slashed growth target for the five-year plan ending March 2017 is higher 7.9 per cent growth rate achieved in 11th Plan.

The government aims to achieve 4 per cent growth rate in agriculture sector during the period, and 10 per cent growth rate in the manufacturing sector.

The proposed total plan size for the five-year plan has been pegged at Rs. 47.7 lakh crore, which represents an increase of 135 per cent over the investments realized in the previous five-year plan.

Once the full Planning commission approves the document, it will be vetted by the Cabinet and then tabled before apex decision making body NDC (National Development Council) for final approval.

Meanwhile, Planning Commission’s Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia defended the government’s decision of diesel price hike and putting a cap on the number of subsidized LPG cylinders, saying the decision would change the global rating agencies’ perception that had threatened to reduce India's sovereign rating