Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

01-February-2013 12:25 IST

The Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram reiterated the commitment of the Government for observing the path of fiscal consolidation and imposition of fiscal targets and policies that will make necessary fiscal correction needed for the economy and take the economy back to the path of higher growth. Shri Chidambaram highlighted the efforts being made to turn the economy around and create a more investor- friendly climate. The Finance Minister Shri Chidambaram was speaking at the Sixth Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) which was held here yesterday under his Chairmanship. The Finance Minister Shri Chidambaram informed the members that to encourage foreign flows into India and offer reassurance on the positive investment climate, he has recently held discussions with a cross section of international investors at Singapore, Hongkong, London and Frankfurt last month and hoped to get positive results.

The FSDC meeting was held as a pre-budget consultations’ exercise with Financial Sector Regulators and was attended among others by Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor, RBI, Shri U. K. Sinha, Chairman, SEBI, Shri Yogesh Agarwal, Chairman, PFRDA, Shri J. Hari Narayan, Chairman, IRDA, Shri R.S. Gujral, Finance Secretary, Dr. Arvind Mayaram, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Shri Sumit Bose, Secretary, Department of Revenue, Shri Ravi Mathur, Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Chief Economic Adviser, Shri Rajiv Takru, OSD, Department of Financial Services and other senior officials of the Ministry of Finance.

In this meeting, financial sector regulators presented their suggestions regarding the forthcoming Budget 2013-14, which will be examined and further processed by related Departments.

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Fiscal consolidation commitment to impose fiscal targets and policies to restore higher growth and reassure investors. The Government reaffirmed commitment to fiscal consolidation and imposition of fiscal targets to achieve fiscal correction and restore higher growth; financial sector regulators presented suggestions in a pre-budget consultative meeting for examination and processing by relevant departments, and outreach to international investors was undertaken to support an investor-friendly climate.