The Centre is likely to go in for privatisation of some of the sick public sector undertakings (PSUs) while setting up a foundation for the revival of those which are viable. An indication to this effect was given by the Minister of State for Industry, Mrs. Krishna Sahi, at a day-long meeting of the chief executives of public enterprises under the Department of Heavy Industry. Responding to the far-reaching recommendations of the six working groups that went into the various aspects of public sector operations for charting out strategies to stay afloat, Mrs. Sahi said exports had to form a major thrust area for the future operations of PSUs.

High speed trains catch US fancy

America has long been a global laggard in running high speed passenger trains, but that is soon to change. Amtrak, the US passenger train system, has tested German and Swedish trains on its Washington-New York route and, by the end of the year, will choose a design and contract for 26 trains worth $500 million. The order will be Amtrak’s first big step to put 150-mile-per-hour trains on its busy Washington-New York-Boston corridor, replacing its 1960s Metroliner fleet.

New strategies needed: Manmohan

The Finance Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said that the country needed to use the present opportunity represented by comfortable foreign exchange reserves to further liberalise and give another boost to the economy. The balance of payments position was “very strong” with the foreign exchange reserves exceeding $17 billion.

He was chairing the meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee attached to the Finance Ministry.

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