Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked investors not to press panic button over the housing finance racket as the loans are protected. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on inclusive growth in New Delhi, he said loans given by institutions, some of whose officials were arrested in connections with the housing finance racket are protected. Mr Mukherjee said, he is in touch with RBI Governor, Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation in this regard. CBI sleuths had on 24 November uncovered a multi-crore corporate housing-loan racket involving several public sector lenders including LIC and Bank of India.CBI sleuths had on 24 November uncovered a multi-crore corporate housing-loan racket involving several public sector lenders including LIC and Bank of India. Earlier, inaugurating the two-day conference on economic policies for economic development, the Finance Minster called for innovations and novel approach to ensure high rate of sustainable growth. He said that the development needs must be approached in a comprehensive manner for sustaining higher rate of growth. Referring to the strong foundations of Indian economy, he asserted this only helped India to negate the impact of global economic downturn rapidly. Mr Mukherjee gave the details of the programmes launched by the government in the social sector with huge outlays and maintained they helped considerably in addressing the concerns of low income groups and lower strata of the society. He added that 37 million rural families have so far been benefited by the Mahatma Gandhi NAREGA.The programme assures 100 days of employment to each rural house hold in a year. Mr. Pranab Mukehrjee said a multi-pronged approach has been adopted to increase food production in the country so that all sections of people have access to food. He added that National Food Security Bill is being looked into by an expert committee headed by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chief Dr. C Rangrajan. This is an important step towards ensuring food security. Apart from this, the Finance Minister referred to various initiatives taken by the government including the right to education and major strides taken for infrastructure development. He said that the two-day conference will provide important inputs towards achieving inclusive growth. Noted economists and policy makers from India and abroad are participating in the two-day conference.