Fill the space, FM to India Inc

The Government8217;s funds are tied up elsewhere and there is a huge void waiting for investment. To fill that gap, Finance Minister P Chid...

The Government8217;s funds are tied up elsewhere and there is a huge void waiting for investment. To fill that gap, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has invited India Inc to step in, even as he made it clear that the government will go ahead with restructuring PSUs and some will be closed down.

Speaking at a CII conference here, the Finance Minister said that the bulk of public expenditure and funds would go into schemes like food for work, upgradation of ITIs and outlays on basic education and healthcare.

This meant that the investment needs in telecom, steel and IT would have to be met by someone else8212;the private sector.

8216;8216;In the next four to five months, private sector must show results in the form of massive investments,8217;8217; said Chidambaram. With the Investment Commission in place, he said he wanted to achieve a gross domestic capital formation of 30 per cent, which was higher than the high of 27 per cent in 1997.

Meanwhile, the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises would be in place soon and Chidambaram asserted that restructuring of public enterprises will continue. Some PSUs would be closed down and some would need to find a strategic partner, he added.

Not forgetting his politics, he took a dig at the previous NDA government by highlighting that the high growth during the last fiscal did not benefit all sections of the society. 8216;8216;People brought home to us a very sobering truth, namely that while India was growing, a large number of Indians were being left behind,8217;8217; he said.

nbsp;	Use 15 bn forex reserves for infrastructure: Montek

		nbsp;	8226; BANGALORE : The Planning Commission has suggested to the Finance Minister that 15 bn from the country8217;s foreign exchange reserves be used to fund critical infrastructure projects, said Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.	nbsp;

Chidamabaram said that while industry and services appeared to be 8216;8216;reasonably successful8217;8217;, agriculture had been gravely neglected.

Story continues below this ad

Similarly, some states were developing faster than others and Chidambaram said that India Inc should try to invest in weaker states, where it could also take advantage of cheaper land and surplus labour.

It was clear that the Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management Act, which binds him to slash deficits, was not far from his mind.

To balance the books, Chidambaram wanted robust revenue collection. 8216;8216;This fiscal, if all goes well and all of you pay your taxes by October 31 and continue to pay taxes in the remaining part of the year, we hope to cross tax:GDP ratio of 10 per cent once again,8217;8217; he said. This would happen after a gap of 20 years.