NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Rajiv Kumar on Thursday expressed confidence that India’s economy will grow at 10% in real terms by the end of the next financial year, ANI reported. He also said that the economy will witness positive growth in the last quarter of this fiscal.

“Our economy will grow at 10% in 2021-’22 in real terms,” Kumar said. “By the end of next year, we will reach pre-Covid level. Growth will be in positive figures in the fourth quarter of 2020-21.”

Growth in real terms refers to the Gross Domestic Product growth, without adjusting it for inflation.

Last week, the Reserve Bank of India had predicted that growth rate may enter the positive territory in the third quarter (October-December) itself. India’s Gross Domestic Product growth rate contracted by 7.5% in the second quarter (July-September), after shrinking by an unprecedented 23.9% in the first three month period (April-June) of this financial year.

On Thursday, the think-tank head also spoke on the ongoing farmers’ protest, asserting that the Union government was trying its best to clarify on the doubts of the farmers about the new agriculture laws. “The government is committed and has always been towards increasing farmers’ income and for the betterment of their lives,” he said, according to PTI.

Replying to a question on the Kerala Assembly’s resolution against the new laws, Kumar said that the Opposition was protesting just for the sake of it. “These laws have been in discussion for decades and many times those who are in Opposition now have supported them,” Kumar said. “They should not oppose it for the sake of being in Opposition because it is misleading the farmers. This type of resolution is not in the interest of the country and farmers.”