FM' S INTERACTION WITH CEOS AT US INDIA BUSINESS
COUNCIL MEETING
The Union Minister
for Finance and Company Affairs, Shri Jaswant Singh interacted
with CEOs and senior executives of leading US companies who have
invested in India. The CEO Roundtable, organized by the US India
Business Council and the CII in Washington yesterday was attended
by about 50 CEOs and senior executives. The Minister is currently
on a visit to the USA to attend the IMF-World Bank meetings.
The Minister assured
the CEOs that the Government of India will continue to maintain
the momentum on economic reforms and take it forward. He said
that the Government was fully committed to the process of reform
in which the electorate had a sense of involvement and where benefits
reached the wider public. The Minister said that the recent debate
on disinvestment and foreign direct investment must not be interpreted
as a disruption of reforms but rather as a process to deal with
the complexities and dynamics of democracy in the country. He
said that in a federal system of governance the State Governments
had a fundamental role in carrying forward the reform agenda.
Interacting with
the CEOs on various aspects of the economic situation and the
security situation, Mr. Jaswant Singh expressed the hope that
India would be able to absorb the temporary shocks without too
much damage on the economic front. He said that the fiscal deficit
which was unacceptably high, was however based on domestic savings
and being used for planned expenditure. Imbalances in state finances
were being corrected and a process for reform and fiscal discipline
had been set in motion with a historic meeting with State Finance
Ministers. The Prime Minister would also have a discussion with
the Chief Ministers next month to finalise decisions in this regard.
Responding to queries
regarding forthcoming initiatives, the Minister said that he believed
in greater transparency with regard to the budget proposals. He
said that there were inherited difficulties in some financial
institutions. Steps had been taken with regard to UTI and restructuring
of other financial institutions was on the anvil. He said that
these packages were not ‘bailouts’ but significant and fundamental
changes to deal, in a final manner, with problems plaguing the
FIs. The Minister said that a decision would soon be taken on
foreign direct investment in the insurance and banking sectors.
