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We haven't found a way to make good use of our resources. Every Government should account for what they are doing about public sector assets and forex reserves, Mr Chidambaram said.

The former finance minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, with the Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies, Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy, at the India Economic Summit 2003 in the Capital on Monday. -- Kamal Narang.

New Delhi , Nov. 24

THE Central Government should account for the way in which public sector assets and huge forex reserves in the country are being utilised, the former finance minister, Mr P.Chidambaram, said here.

Addressing a Plenary Session on "India's Competitiveness" at the India Economic Summit 2003, he said that India has large resources that "we don't make good use of". He held that the Government should report the progress made in the utilisation of such resources.

The former Finance Minister highlighted that India is still haunted by the dilemmas of the Nineties. Mr Chidambaram held that the "endless debate on privatisation" is only resulting in wastage of opportunities and locking up of public sector assets.

"The Government has no clue as to how to use the forex resources to make India competitive. We have forex reserves of nearly $100 billion. We haven't found a way to make good use of our resources. Every Government should account for what they are doing about public sector assets and forex reserves," he said.

On steps needed to improve Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows, he highlighted that the mid-year review of the economy paints a dismal picture of FDI inflows into the country. He held that there is ``a need to remove the cobwebs from the minds of the rulers''.

"There is a constituency to which FDI has to be sold. The N.K. Singh Committee report on FDI is still gathering dust. We currently have a loose and large policy framework, but the devil is in the detail. Targeting individual Fortune 1000 companies would help change rules in the different sectors", he said.

On FDI in retail sector, Mr Jairam Ramesh, Secretary, Indian National Congress, said that the retailing segment was open and closed in 18 months. " The greatest repellent of FDI in retailing are Indian entrepreneurs. The Indian entrepreneur class is still not comfortable with FDI in retailing", he said.

Mr Paul Laudicina, Vice-President and Managing Director, A.T. Kearney of the US, said that India is well positioned to take advantage of the shift in global FDI inflows.

Mr Laudicina pointed out that currently 43 per cent of total FDI flows are into the services sector as against a level of about 23 per cent that has been seen in the last 15 years. He also highlighted that there has been a drop of 11 per cent in the total manufacturing jobs in the last five years due to improvement in technology and manufacturing production.

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