India is a "Very strong economy...," says IMF division chief Daniel Leigh.

India is a "Very strong economy...," says IMF division chief Daniel Leigh.

International Monetary Fund division chief Daniel Leigh on Tuesday reposed faith in the Indian economy and said that it is a "very strong economy."

He said that India is one of the bright spots in the global economy right now with a high growth rate.

"Yes, we have a growth rate for India which is 6.8 in 2022. Let's not forget this is one of the bright spots in the global economy right now. Such a high growth rate and it is moderating down to 5.9 with a -.2 revision compared to January, what's happening here is also a set of historical revisions," said Leigh.

IMF on Tuesday lowered its growth projection for 2023-24 to 5.9 per cent from 6.1 per cent earlier but despite a significant drop, India continues to be the fastest-growing economy in the world, the World Economic Outlook figures revealed.

"We realize that 2020-2021 has actually been a lot better than we thought and so actually there's less room for catching up. And that pent-up demand from consumers that were informing our previous forecast is therefore going to be less because they've already had more catching up before. So that's why there's a downward revision this year. Then we go up to 6.3 next year again, a very strong economy which is necessary to allow India to continue to converge towards higher living standards and create those jobs that are necessary," added Leigh.

The IMF projects India's inflation to slow to 4.9 per cent in the current year and further to 4.4 per cent next fiscal year.