Winding up a debate on Finance Bill, 2012 in the Rajya Sabha, Pranab Mukherjee today said India's growth was still intact despite moderation in the GDP which dropped to disappointing level of 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, down from 8.4 per cent in the previous two years.

"The international situation is difficult. Country after country is witnessing economic crisis... I shall have to keep in mind its a difficult world...I cannot live in a world which is not real", he said. The House later returned the bill marking completion of the three-stage budgetary exercise for 2012-13 by Parliament. Referring to crisis in eurozone and its impact on India, Mukherjee said, the government would resort to some "unpopular" steps to deal with the fiscal problems.

Pranab Mukherjee said the government would be resorting to a fresh spell of austerity measures to deal with the problems, but made it clear that he
was not pressing "panic button".