"This is not impossible. We grew at almost 7 percent last year, and this year too, we expect growth to be in excess of 7 percent," Singh told a farm conference.
"If one looks at the overall macro-economic scenario in the country today, I see that the environment is quite favourable for accelerating our growth rate to beyond eight percent."
Singh said the country must aim for over 4 percent agricultural growth for overall economic growth of more than 8 percent.
Asia's third largest economy grew at a robust 8.1 percent annually in the April-June quarter led by strong output in services and manufacturing. Farm output, generating about a fifth of GDP, grew an annual 2.0 percent in April-June compared with 1.8 percent in the previous three-month period and 3.8 percent a year ago.