Finance minister P Chida-mbaram said the government was taking a relook at all the urban land ceiling Acts and will soon decide on whether housing should be considered an infrastructure industry.
Chidambaram also ruled out offering central guarantees to commercial projects, saying if the projects are viable and strong they will in any case attract investments.
The finance minister, who could not make it to Mumbai to attend the final day of the Advantage Maharashtra conference, replied to investors queries via video-conferencing from Delhi.
Chidambaram said the government has identified eight sectors as infrastructure areas and housing is not one of them. Before we include housing, we have to address the basic provisions of the Urban Land Ceiling Acts, which we are doing, he said.
Earlier in his speech transmitted from Delhi via the satellite, the finance minister lauded the Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi for his idea of a global investors conference.
He also called upon investors to come and invest in the country as opportunities and potential are great. India in 1997 is different from what it was five years ago. We have progressed in the last three years. Our GDP growth is around 7 per cent in complete contrast to the 3.5 per cent average GDP growth in the first 30 years. Major reforms have been undertaken in trade and industrial policy, he added.
