Indian Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Sunday said lack of progress in financial sector reforms was a major worry for the government, local newspaper The Indian Express reported Monday.
"There are two major areas of reforms that I am not quite satisfied with," Chidambaram told the India Economic Summit on Sunday, "Financial sector reforms are lagging behind -- banking, insurance, pension and the unfinished agenda in the capital markets. These reforms are at the heart of the economy. We still have 16 months... (we) might be able to make some progress," he said.
The Finance Minister lauded China's leadership for its ability and determination to put massive and complex projects on the ground. "China built the Three Gorges Dam. It may have been a controversial decision but I can't imagine any developed country that could execute such an enormously complex project. This requires great organizational capacity and determination. India must summon this determination and capacity," he said, taking forward the Prime Minister's recent statement calling China's leadership its "greatest asset".
Though he expressed hope on the financial sector reforms front, similar optimism wasn't apparent in the other major area of concern that he stressed upon. "We have very ambitious social sector programs -- in areas of employment, health, education and the outlays on them have been increased. But we still depend on tried and tested, but failed systems of delivery," he said.
"There has been very little progress in public-private partnerships and devising alternative institutions to deliver goods and services to the masses rather than rely on the rigid bureaucracy that we have," Chidambaram said.
Reiterating a point he has often made, he said, "States often complain about the Center encroaching on their turf when it comes to resource mobilization, but state after state says (developmental) schemes should be Centrally sponsored even on matters that the Constitution has given them responsibility for. They want the Center to devise the schemes as well as provide the resources."
The finance minister asked, "I have no problem providing resources to states as long as outcomes are delivered. But are we getting bang for the buck?" The failure of the states and the rigid bureaucracy to implement schemes was a major hurdle to inclusive growth, he said.
Source: Xinhua
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