Governance issues dogging the country for the last few months will take a toll on India's economic growth if the Central and state governments put the reform process on the back burner, an expert has said. The country should not be pushed to the 1991 situation of ''do or die'' as the entire nation is now engaged with the governance issue, especially the Lokpal bill brushing aside the reform process, Abdul Majeed J Shaikh, partner of Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) said.

''The country appears to have lost focus on the growth agenda,'' he said. He said the Indian growth story would be a longish one stretching to the next four to six decades and the country needs to sustain above a nine per cent growth. The government must act ''in haste'' to settle the governance issues as it would send wrong signals abroad. The domestic market should ensure a 5.5 per cent GDP growth. But that was not enough and the country needs to look to a nine per cent growth, he said.