Chennai, Dec 20 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee Friday said the challenge before India is to reverse the economic deceleration and revert to eight plus percent economic growth rate.

"Our immediate challenge is to reverse the economic deceleration and nurse our growth back to the eight percent plus levels clocked by us in the past," he said after inaugurating the 28th Indian Engineering Congress themed "Engineering Advancements and Accelerated Nation Building" organised here by Institution of Engineers.

Positive factors such as continuing rise in per capita incomes, expanding middle-class consumers, and a young and energetic workforce gives confidence that as the global economy revives, India will be able to secure faster growth, he said.

Mukherjee said the level of competitiveness of Indian entrepreneurs have to be addressed so that they can play a bigger role in the global market.

He said that "new operating models - flexible automation, multi-location production, deferred customisation and disposable factories" are to be introduced through innovative engineering.

Stressing the importance of innovation for growth, he urged the industry to forge partnerships with academic and research institutes.

Mukherjee also asked the Institution of Engineers to look at the possibilities of setting up an Institute of Excellence in Engineering and Technology so as to create a synergy between academia and industry through high quality engineering education and innovative research.

He said a nation's development is not dependent merely on its natural resources but on its technological prowess, and the knowledge infrastructure should be leveraged to develop growth inducing technology.

He said the technological choice for development should be based socio-economic, environmental and security factors. It should also be on availability of resource and infrastructure.