Sinha assures foreign investors

NEW DELHI, MAR 3: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today asserted coalition politics held no fears to foreign investors and maintained tha...

NEW DELHI, MAR 3: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today asserted coalition politics held no fears to foreign investors and maintained that budget proposals would actually help speed up approval and implementation of overseas funded projects.

"I don’t think that the limitations of coalition politics are going to in anyway influence the policies I have enunciated in the budget," Sinha said adding "I think the compulsions and limitations of coalition politics are being over emphasised." Sinha’s assertion assumed significance in the wake of the criticism in various quarters that the main obstacle for the government was lack of coherence and fears of instability of coalition government.

He told foreign journalists here that the government was committed to economic reforms and that the proposals unveiled in the budget were proof of government’s " reformist credentials".

Asked if the delay in passage of two important legislation affected the speeding up of the reform process, Sinha said he was confident ofgetting the Insurance Regulatory Authority bill as also the Patents Amendment Bill passed in this session of parliament. "The government’s intention is very clearly defined and I am confident we will be able to push through both these important reform legislation in this session of parliament," he said.

On the sharp fall in the foreign investment growth in recent years, Sinha said his government was as welcoming of foreign investment as any government in the past or any government elsewhere. He cited commitments in his budget for expanding the list of foreign-funded projects that could receive automatic approval.

The budget now guarantees a decision within 30 days on any foreign direct investment put forth before the government, Sinha said, adding that an implementation authority was being created to ensure that projects cleared got off the ground on schedule.

The hassle factor which has bothered foreign investors has not been so much on the approval front as it has been at the stage of implementation,he said, adding the implementation board would always include a representative from the state hosting the project under consideration.

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The Finance Minister said that government plans to move fast on strategic sale of public sector undertakings and that Rs 10,000 crore disinvestment target for 1999-2000 was “realistic ”.

“We will look at all options to achieve this target and will sell shares both domestically and through the global depository route (GDR),” Sinha said. On the RBI decision to cut bank rate, Sinha said banks must take their own decision on having lower deposit rates.

He also defended the market borrowing programme of the government as realistic saying the projections were based on very conservative revenue targets. “If the revenue targets were exceeded then the borrowings could be even lower than estimated,” he said.

On the post-budget bullish sentiments in the stock markets, Sinha said “I take my policy decisions with a view to creating a stimulus for the economy as a whole. Andif the stock market is responding, I am not complaining.”