Reforms key to push econ to high growth - Mukherjee

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee speaks during a business meeting in New Delhi July 7, 2009.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Economic reforms are needed to steer the Indian economy to a 9 percent growth path, while the immediate challenge is to tackle poor monsoon rains, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday.

The economy will grow at around 6 percent in the current financial year that began in April 2009, he told a gathering at an event organised by channel ET Now.

"Mitigating the impact of the deficient monsoon and the rural economy is a high priority," he said.

Growth has fallen sharply to 6.7 percent in 2007/08 from rates of around 9 percent seen in recent years as the global financial crisis hit exports and dented consumer confidence.

On reforms, Mukherjee said the government was moving ahead with setting up an autonomous debt management office and all efforts were being made to implement a goods and services tax from next year.

The new tax reform bill will be presented in parliament after public debate and the government would soon introduce repos in the corporate debt market. Presently, only repos in the government bond market are allowed.

Mukherjee declined to mention a timeframe by when these reforms, which have been mentioned earlier by government officials, would be implemented.

(Additional reporting by Swati Bhat in MUMBAI)