COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

PM asks Sinha to arrest slide

Perturbed by the overall economic slump, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has directed Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to take urgent measures to arrest the slide of the rupee.

Expressing concern over falling stocks and rupee markets, the prime minister has reportedly said that the trend should be reversed forthwith, boosting investor confidence.

He summoned Sinha to his 7, Race Cource Road home, soon after reaching New Delhi from his seven-day holiday in Himachal Pradesh.

Vajpayee has also issued a similar directive to Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar.

Following this, the official has held a meeting to review the implementation of various measures by different ministries to raise efficiency, increase export production and exports and cut down delays in the processing of foreign direct investment proposals.

During the meeting, the Cabinet secretary directed the ministries and departments to draw up detailed action plans as well as implementation schedules.

He will review the progress of implementation at regular intervals to ensure that there are no bottlenecks in the implementation of these measures.

Secretaries and senior officials of key ministries and sectors such as finance, power, petroleum and natural gas, telecommunications, civil aviation, urban development, industry, railways and civil supplies attended the meeting.

The meeting also reviewed the developments in the international economic scene and the policy initiatives required to meet the situation in the short and long-term. A programme of action for pushing through a series of policy measures has been drawn up, an official spokesman said.

Additional reportage: UNI