Run-Up To Budget 2003
With the group of ministers looking into foreign investment unlikely to meet before February 28, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh will be constrained not to announce higher sector caps in the Budget for 2003-04. He might, however, lay a map for a more liberal foreign investment regime.
The aviation, information, small industries, biotechnology, coal, mining and telecommunications ministries have attached riders to the recommendations of a committee headed by Planning Commission Member NK Singh, which sought raising or eliminating ceilings on foreign investment in these and other sectors.
The proposals will have to be cleared by the ministerial group and as well as the Cabinet committee on economic affairs before sector caps can be altered.
Officials in the department of industrial policy and promotion, the nodal ministry for foreign direct investment which coordinates the meetings of the ministerial group, today said no meeting had been scheduled.
The group, headed by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and comprising six other Cabinet ministers, was scheduled to meet last Friday, but the meeting was put off because four of the members were unable to attend.
This leaves only two days for a meeting, which appears unlikely with the railway budget being presented tomorrow and the Economic Survey on Thursday.
