Six suggestions for the new finance minister

Some unsolicited advice for a government with brute majority and nation's pragmatic chief money man

We have a rock-solid government at the Centre for the next five years. And a pragmatic governor at the central bank, a doer. The combination encourages me to put on the table half a dozen unsolicited suggestions before the new finance minister. Some of them may sound radical but then the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is decisive and on a mission mode. 

Privatise public sector banks: Under the Banking Act, the Indian government needs to hold at least 51 per cent of the paid-up capital in such banks. Besides direct government holding, the Life Insurance Corporation of India holds significant