New York: Pledging India's resolve to continue with the reform process, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on September 25 said expanding the role of market forces is an imperative of globalisation and it would remain the central theme of the reforms.

Since the economic reforms were launched just over a decade ago, the Indian economy has sustained an annual average growth of over 6 per cent with foreign exchange fast moving towards the $ 100 billion mark, Vajpayee said delivering a speech at Columbia University on "India's Economic Outlook and Perspectives on International Development".

He said India today had the confidence that the basic fundamentals of its economy were sounder than they have been for several decades.

"A young, better-educated, more confident and increasingly impatient Indian population is driving India's progress and demanding from government the conditions to fulfill its aspirations," he said.

Declaring that there was no weakening in India's resolve to continue with the reform process, he said, "Our effort has consistently been to cushion the impact of reforms on the poorer sections of our society. We have tried to reconcile competing interests and to avoid sudden disruptions in our economy. We believe that reforms following a Democratic consensus are enduring, as all constituencies are carried along with us."

In his speech, the Prime Minister highlighted the achievements made by India in various fields including IT sector and Science and Technology and said, "We plan to send a spacecraft to the moon in the next five years."

PTI