Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today said the Indian economy will be brought back to eight percent growth rate in next two to three years.

In an interview to Japanese media in the run up to his official visit to Japan that begins on Monday, Dr Singh said the growth rate came down last year to five per cent due to global recession coupled with domestic reasons.

He said several projects listed out in the national development plan got held up due to regulatory problems with environment clearance and want of resources like coal.

He exuded confidence that the growth rate during the current year will go up to six and half per cent due to the present high savings and investment rates.

He also said India intends to remove the bottlenecks in the growth process and accelerate investments particularly in infrastructure.

He further said India will require robust participation of Japanese business and industry in Infrastructure and Manufacturing sectors in India.