Finance Minister P Chidambaram has promised more reforms and expressed confidence that the bills on FDI in insurance and pension will be passed in Parliament. He said in Mumbai that he will soon open dialogue with the opposition parties including the BJP. He said there is no difference of opinion on the issue of 49 per cent FDI in insurance and he can convince the opposition parties that this clause of raising the FDI cap can be kept.
Addressing a press conference on his first visit to the financial capital after taking over as Finance Minister, he said he was convinced that the two amendment bills, crucial for the economy, will be passed by Parliament and sought media's cooperation as well.
Asked whether there will be more reforms, he said more and more issues will be addressed. Chidambaram said the economic situation in India is still very challenging but added that the government has taken a number of steps to improve investor sentiment. He said the government hopes to get back on a high growth path by channelizing savings and investment in the right direction and by helping entrepreneurs to raise capital.
On the issue of inflation, the finance minister said that that there are numerous reasons for price rise, ranging from depreciation of rupee to supply demand mismatch. He said,a number of steps taken by the government, like the diesel price hike will also lead to a rise in inflation in the near future but in the long run the steps taken to contain inflation will surely bear fruit.
Talking about yesterday’s flash crash at NSE, Chidambaram said that the matter is being investigated and any action necessary will be taken by SEBI. He assured that there is no systemic risk to the capital markets.
Earlier, the finance minister held a series of meetings with top officials from Reserve Bank of India and SEBI apart from holding meetings with the heads of stock exchanges and leaders from mutual fund industry.