The downgrade of India’s economic growth forecast by Moody’s Analytics was a cause of concern but India would do better in FY13 compared to last year’s 6.5% GDP growth. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said on Saturday.

“It is a cause of concern but one should not draw unwarranted conclusions,” Dr. Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

Moody’s Analytics, the research arm of the global credit ratings firm, recently scaled down its forecast for India's economic growth this fiscal to 5.5% earlier this week. A number of other independent research firms have also downgraded India's GDP growth projections.

However, Dr. Singh said today that the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong.

"Investments and savings are among the highest in the world. I am hopeful, we will do still better than 6.5% growth performance of last year,” the Prime Minister said today.

The Prime Minister also said today that he would welcome Rahul Gandhi’s entry into the Cabinet, stoking speculation about the possibility of a bigger role for the Gandhi scion in the Congress-led UPA II Government.

“I have always said I would welcome Rahul’s entry into Government,” Dr. Singh told reporters today.

Last month, Rahul had said that he would play a more proactive role in the Congress and the Government, the timing of which would be decided by Congress President, Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister.