A targeted growth of nine per cent in gross domestic product during the Eleventh Plan period will help the country achieve a growth rate of 7.5 per cent in per capita income during the period, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in Udaipur on Friday.

Population growth rate would be 1.5 per cent during the period 2007-12. "The next 10 years, India will register four major changes. The economic growth will accelerate, the technology will also grow and domestic industry will experience major liberalisation," Ahluwalia said after inaugurating the 22nd Indian Engineering Congress in Udaipur.

This will provide huge opportunity for entrepreneurs and increased competition due to globalisation will also spur the indigenous industry. He said energy is a prime area which will need a lot of consideration and would be a major challenge in the next 20 years.

Climate changes will increasingly require the attention of the scientific community. The central government is also planning to raise investment in education which will ultimately reach about 5 per cent of the GDP at the end of the Eleventh Plan.

The government has also decided to open seven new IIMs, eight new IITs and 30 central universities to provide quality higher education.