Global economy returning to normalcy: PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the global economic downturn which had affected Indian economy as well, is now coming to an end with slow return to normalcy.

"We have been through a difficult year because of the global economic downturn which is only now coming to end with a slow return to normalcy in the months that lie ahead," Singh said in his opening remarks chairing the meeting of the full Planning Commission, which is assessing the economy and status of Integrated Energy Policy (IEP).

"The country has also seen poor monsoon," he said, adding it would be useful for the Planning Commission to present its assessment of the overall economic situation.

Besides, members of the Planning Commission and its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the first meeting of the full panel in the second term of UPA government is being attended by more than a dozen ministers including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Facing the ripple effects of global financial crisis, India's economic growth slipped to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09 from about 9 per cent in the previous fiscal. The growth, according to the Planning Commission, is expected to fall further to 6.3 per cent in 2009-10.