NEW DELHI, MARCH 11: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said today the economy was poised for a higher growth of seven to eight per cent in the next financial year, though government was worried about the fiscal deficit for which expenditure would have to be reined in and tax base widened.Speaking to reporters after meeting the RBI top brass led by the Governor Bimal Jalan, Sinha said the main challenges for the Indian economy was on the fiscal front for which the government will have to curtail its expenditure and widen the tax base.Sinha also expressed concern about rising international oil prices."We spoke to the RBI board about the budget and its implications on the economy, and various sectors. Governor, RBI board and the Government are agreed that the outlook for the economy is very good."India can look forward to a strong growth rate in the next fiscal, Sinha said. The Minister of State for Banking B V Patil and senior Finance Ministry officials were also present during the meeting.Sinha said he is not in favour of rollback in prices of food grains and fertilisers despite pressure from the NDA allies. "Pressure will continue, but I will not rollback though some where a compromise might be reached (with the NDA allies," Sinha told a private TV channel."I will explain to our allies as many times as necessary the imperatives of undertaking marginal reduction in subsidies," he told Star TV's 'Janta Ki Adalat' to be telecast tommorrow, a release by the channel said.On the failure of the government to mop up Rs 10,000 crore disinvestment during the current fiscal, he said six months were lost due to political instability and this was followed by Christmas holidays in the West.So far the government has mobilised about Rs 2,600 crore through disinvestment this fiscal, he said. Sinha defended the decision to cut import duty on certain segment of IT sectors and said "today the world is acknowledging our strength in the IT sector and I think it would have been a short sighted policy if I had not encouraged this sector."Finance Minister said he has proposed reduction in import duty on cellular phones because it was only encouraging the grey market as a result of which government was loosing revenue.
