Report card on budget outlays soon

Asked whether putting the BHEL divestment plan in the backburner would adversely affect welfare programmes for the poor, the Finance Minister replied, ‘‘Increasing tax revenues — rather than divesting PSUs — should be the method of funding programmes to improve the lot of the marginalised.’’

‘‘The unfriendly tax administation system may have made the honest people dishonest. There are no other alternatives to increasing tax revenue to spend on the welfare schemes”. Stating that current GDP growth is at 6.9 per cent, Chidambaram hoped that achieving 8 per cent growth for this fiscal is not impossible. The FM called for increasing the capital investment to spur growth. ‘‘Growth is not the product of magic or mythology, it’s a product of investment and efficient systems and giving professional freedom to both private sector and PSUs,’’ he said.

Chidambaram exhorted the PSUs and private sector firms to give premium on youth and implement better renumeration to retain the best minds within organisations. The FM also said that better governed states have better growth rates.