The Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee has set his government an eight per cent annual growth target for the next five years.

During a meeting of his economic advisory council in Delhi, Mr Vajpayee said speeding up economic reforms was a priority for the government.

And he pledged to accelerate the sale of state-owned industries to the private sector.

Mr Vajpayee said earlier this week that he expected India's gross domestic product to grow more than six per cent this year - despite military tensions with Pakistan.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service