(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-15 06:18

NEW DELHI -- India and China have the potential to be the engines of the world economy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said here Thursday.

"In the years to come, India and China will be viewed as the new growth engines of the world economy. We are not yet there, but we will be," Singh said at the release of a book, "Business Standard India 2008", at his official residence here.

"We can certainly sustain much better domestic performance based on our own effort and potential. Our macro-economic policies are aimed at ensuring this," he said, adding that the "challenge before us today is also to get the politics right".

Asserting the government's commitment to ensure the uncertainty in the global system would not harm the growth of Indian economy, Manmohan Singh said India's large continental economy can sustain fairly high rates of growth based on the stable and sustained growth of the home market, even if there is turbulence in the global market.

Cautioning that the country cannot take the economic success for granted, the prime minister said the government needed to pursue sound macro-economic policies designed to raise savings, investment and productivity.

Singh, who appreciated the business daily Business Standard's new initiative, said there was a growing interest in the Indian story.

"The India story is not just about economic growth and business outcomes. It is also about social change, social mobility and the political empowerment of more than a billion people. The saga of over a billion people, seeking their social and economic salvation through the framework of a plural democracy is without doubt one of the most uplifting stories of our times," he said.