NEW DELHI, MARCH 10: The economy is firmly set on the path of attaining a 7-8 per cent GDP growth rate with good prospects of creating job opportunities in the private sector in the next fiscal year, Finance Secretary P G Mankad said today.Reacting to criticism over the soft disinvestment target for the next fiscal year, the Finance Secretary said the budget proposals have been framed with realistic numbers in mind. He said, the government can achieve and even surpass its ``realistic'' disinvestment target of Rs 10,000 crore for 2000-2001 fiscal through various options like strategic partner, dilution of stake in the domestic and overseas markets, instead of big bang privatisation.Mankad hoped that the economy will grow by 7-8 per cent this fiscal and surpass it in the future as agriculture, construction, infrastructure and information technology sectors realise the benefits of the budget proposals.Responding to the concerns expressed earlier by Assocham president Shekhar Bajaj over the cascading effect of the increase in the tax on dividends, the Finance Secretary assured them that he would have the issue examined closely by the revenue department and take corrective action if required.Mankad sought to dispel the impression that downsizing of government would be a major source of reduction in administrative expenditure. ``Downsizing will not make any significant dent on savings. All that it would perhaps do is to make the government more focussed and efficient.''He reiterated that the rationalisation of indirect taxes would send a clear signal to income tax department to get off the back of industry and lay the ground rules to ensure predictability. Never before has simplification of indirect taxes been such an integral part of the budget as this time. This he said would go a long way in reducing pre-budget lobbying and submission of extensive memoranda.
