India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Sing, on Sunday slashed a previously set forecast for the country's economic growth rate to seven percent, down from 8.5 percent a year ago.
The country was initially estimated to grow around nine percent for the current fiscal year but was scaled down by both the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank at the weekend.

“India is going through difficult times. We are up to the task of meeting the challenges we face as a nation,” Singh said. The prime minister told a congregation that he was confident that the economy will return to a growth rate of between nine and 10 percent in the medium term.