"A 10% deficit is not the time to look at capital account convertibility," new CII president R Seshasayee said in an interview today.
The Indian industry was not against moving towards full capital account convertibility, but safeguards needed to be in place before such a thing happens, Seshasayee said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently asked the Finance Minister and the Reserve Bank to work out a road-map for full convertibility following which the central bank set up a committee headed by former Deputy Governor S S Tarapore.
Full float of rupee would lead to larger inflow of foreign savings and investment at a time when India is eyeing $150 billion FDI in the infrastructure sector over the next 5-7 years .
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, however, has made it clear that full float of rupee would not be possible without wiping out revenue deficit.
The government has set a target, under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, to wipe out revenue deficit by 2009.
