Setting the tone for pepping up India’s sluggish economy in the backdrop of the global downturn, finance minister P. Chidambaram pledged Thursday that the government will take the steps needed to accelerate reforms and spur investment in the next one month.
He indicated the government will soon decide on coal and gas pricing and review the FDI caps in key sectors. Infrastructure is another area where policy bottlenecks will be eliminated to smoothen project clearances.
While getting through big-ticket reform measures like insurance, pension and banking will be difficult as these need parliamentary approval, the government is ready to go all out to convince other parties to support the bills in the national interest, he added.
The finance minister’s assertion that the government will soon take measures comes a day after rating agency Fitch upgraded India’s credit outlook from negative to stable.
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Nitish wants BJP assurance on modi
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, June 13
The cracks between the BJP and JD(U) continued to widen on Thursday. JD(U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, it is learnt, wants an assurance that the BJP “will not declare (Gujarat chief minister) Modi its prime ministerial candidate”. The BJP, however, gave no such assurance.
Former BJP chief Nitn Gadkari and party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday met JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav to try to resolve the crisis. However, BJP leaders feel Mr Kumar “is looking for an excuse to snap ties as he is leaning towards a third front”. It is learnt that the JD(U) ranks were vertically split with one section cautioning the leadership against severing ties with the BJP in a hurry because the BJP has a strong cadre base all across the state.