Economy stabilized, investment cycle too witnesses revival: Chidambaram

Countering opposition’s attack on the Centre over the state of the economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram highlighted that the economy has stabilized and was about to see a revival in the investment, leading to high growth. On the capex plan, he underscored that domestic capital expenditure of about 23 public sector undertakings, including Navaratnas and Mini Ratnas, for the current fiscal would be at Rs 1.33 lakh crore as against Rs 1.25 lakh crore in the previous year and further praised the performance of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) for driving domestic investment. Besides, Chidambaram expressed confidence that inflation of food items would be contained and said the Government brought about 1,200 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice to the public through various schemes and the public distribution system.  He highlighted that government had sold 69.01 lakh tonnes of wheat in the open market in the year 2012-13, while in the following year, the government sold 61.10 lakh tonnes of wheat. Similarly, the government had sold 0.99 lakh tonnes of rice during 2012-13, while in 2013-14, the government sold 1.48 lakh tonnes of rice in the open market. The Finance Minister further stated that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the last financial year, till February, was $26.90 billion. Additionally, he added that Rupee at 60 per dollar was true reflection of the value of currency.