Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today expressed optimism that India will achieve an economic growth of around 8.5 per cent in the financial year 2011-12 despite the slowdown in major western and European economies. In a special briefing in New Delhi, Mr Mukherjee said that the country is moving on the path of fiscal consolidation necessary for sustained economic growth and lowering the fiscal deficit. He said the fiscal deficit which touched 6.6 per cent in 2009-10 was brought down to a manageable 4.7 per cent in 2010-11 due to the fiscal consolidation measures taken by the government. Mr Mukherjee said there is revenue buoyancy as both the direct tax and indirect tax collections grew in the first quarter.