New Delhi (PTI) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said that he has taken tremendous risk to return to higher growth rates by opting for higher deficit and hoped to achieve nine per cent growth next fiscal.

"I have taken the tremendous risk to create the fiscal space of having higher deficit. I could have gone for the more conservative way of reducing the deficit and spent myself with six or less than that percentage of growth," he told Lok Sabha television soon after presenting the Union Budget in Parliament.

Mr. Mukherjee said he had taken the risk as he felt that the priority would be to return to higher growth rate.

"Today, India is on the regular path of high growth. Of course, there has been a dip this year and next year I do hope we will make up some, but another year we will come back to nine per cent growth because basic fundamentals are strong and resilient," he said.

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