India economy to grow 6-7 pct in FY10 - finmin

NEW DELHI, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The Indian economy could expand between 6 and 7 percent in the year to March 2010, despite a bad monsoon, the finance minister said on Saturday.

Speaking in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, Pranab Mukherjee said there were risks to an early global economic recovery and signs of asset price bubbles were re-emerging.

"Overall, the economic growth is expected to be in the range of 6-7 per cent in 2009/10, despite the setback due to a poor monsoon," Mukherjee said.

The remarks were made available via a government email sent to journalists in New Delhi.

The growth rate in Asia's third largest economy fell to 5.8 percent in each of the December and March quarters as the global slowdown trimmed factory output and slashed exports.

The Indian economy grew 6.7 percent in 2008/09 (April-March), slowing from 9 percent or more in the previous three years.

(Reporting by Rajkumar Ray; Editing by Keiron Henderson)