Cautioning the opposition against dampening the spirit of economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said government has taken a number of steps to return to the robust growth path in the next two to three years.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, the Prime Minister admitted that there has been a slowdown in the economy which has been reflected in the GDP figures.

"Nothing is achieved by dampening the spirit...We have taken steps and in 2-3 years we will return the economy to the robust growth path," Singh said as members of the BJP and Left parties voiced concern over the slowdown in the economy.

Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) and Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) had demanded that the Prime Minister reply to questions on the slowdown of economy and not Minister of State for Planning Rajiv Shukla as he was "not an economist".

"It is certainly true that in the last two years there has been a slowdown in the economy and it has been reflected in the GDP. In the Economic Survey of 2012-13 and the Finance Minister's budget speech, we have explained at length the factors that are responsible for the slowdown," Singh said.

He said there were international factors as the world faced two crises -- the banking crisis of 2008-09 and the Eurozone crisis.

"These things do affect the economy. There were domestic issues as well. We are trying to tackle the crisis," he said.