Taking the entire 17-year period from 1980-81 to 1997-98, India’s trend growth has averaged 5.8 per cent per annum, which is significantly higher than the trend, annual average rate of 4.7 per cent for the developing countries and 2.4 per cent for the advanced countries.
The performance during 1997-98 also revealed BIS Review 89/1998  considerable resilience and inner strength to meet the macroeconomic challenges posed by both domestic and external developments. The performance of various sectors clearly suggests that the growth of real GDP during the current year (1998-99) would be about 6.5 per cent - an impressive figure, especially in the current international environment.