Shrugging off the Opposition’s attack on the Centre over the state of the economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the country was about to see a surge in investments.
He said that the economy had stabilised and hoped this would help in reviving investments.
Chidambaram told reporters at the Congress headquarters here on Thursday that the domestic capital expenditure of about 23 public sector undertakings — including Navaratnas and Mini Ratnas — for the current fiscal would be ₹1.33 lakh crore. The provisional figure of capital expenditure for these PSUs in the last financial year was ₹1.25 lakh crore.
He added that the capital requirement of banks in this financial year is estimated to be ₹45,528 crore. He also claimed that the foreign direct investment in the last financial year, till February, was $26.90 billion.
Chidambaram expressed confidence that inflation of food items would be contained and said the Government brought about 1,200 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice to the public through various schemes and the public distribution system.
Vodafone case Chidambaram said the Centre had decided to withdraw the offer of non-binding conciliation to Vodafone. The Government will now defend its case when it comes up for arbitration.
“I have already proposed to the Cabinet that since they have issued a fresh arbitration notice, the original offer of a non-binding conciliation should be taken as withdrawn. That offer is no longer there,” he said, and added that the Government would defend its case.
The Finance Ministry had moved a proposal before the Cabinet to withdraw the conciliation efforts offered to Vodafone last year.
Chidambaram said the next Government should respect the appointment of Raghuram Rajan as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
‘Respect Rajan’s record’ “The Governor has been appointed having regard to his outstanding record, his outstanding academics, his reputation and his work earlier in other organisations. The next Government must respect that appointment,” Chidambaram said.
Some in the BJP have been critical of his appointment, questioning several of his actions.