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Govt is determined to push through divestment, privatisation and market reforms, says Sinha

Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today said the government was determined to go ahead with the privatisation of sick public sector units, disinvestment proposal and the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill in an all out effort for resource mobilisation and redressal of the fiscal deficit problem.

Addressing the 97th annual general meeting of the Indian Merchants' Chamber of Commerce in Calcutta, Sinha also announced that fundamental changes would be brought in the tax structure for introducing a ''simplified and rationalised'' policy and reduce the number of slabs in the excise duty in the Union Budget for 1999.

The minister, who emphasised that the country must face hardship in the process of reforms, firmly refused to protect any industry from competition and slacken the process of liberalisation.

He also said strictest expenditure control was being adopted even at the cost of the government being ''unpopular'' to cope with the financial crunch prevailing in the country.

Sinha said the government had decided to pass on the management of a number of PSUs to the private sector following disinvestment of shares.

Process was underway for disinvestment of some PSUs other than that of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited and Gas Authority of India Limited this year. ''I am confident of achieving the budgetary target of mopping up Rs 50 billion through the process of disinvestment in the current year,'' he asserted.

The finance minister, who said fiscal redressal was the ''most prime need of the country'', reaffirmed the government decision to close down eight public sector units and carry on the process in case of other loss-making PSUs.

''We shall revive those PSUs which are feasible to be revived. But we have decided to close down those which can not be run with any amount of investment,'' he categorically said.

Describing the decision as a clear direction in which the reforms would go, the finance minister said PSUs in the country must not be a loss-making area as they had been for years.''They must learn to compete not only in the domestic field, but also internationally, which, I think, they are capable of, provided they shed the extra baggages.''

Referring to the opposition to the decision, Sinha wondered how he could be asked to achieve ''contradictory goals'' of containing the fiscal deficit and protecting the loss-making PSUs at the same time.

UNI

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