Architect of India's financial reforms by Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, May 21,2004
Arun Sharma

Seeking the support of (NRIs) non-resident Indians for economic development, Singh said, "I invite them to show much more interest in the development of the country. The government will create an environment where our industrialists, both NRI and domestic, can create more wealth in the country" .......Manmohan Singh

• The public sector undertakings would be free to raise resources through divestment or sale of equity as long as they remained public enterprises but the government would not privatise profitable state-owned firms.
  
  
• The concept of selective divestment: PSUs of strategic importance like Gail and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation would remain in the public sector.
  
  
  
• "There is no intention of privatising them. Similarly, there are nationalised banks which will remain in the public sector. These will not be privatised," he said
  
  
• Singh made an exception on free power for farmers in Andhra Pradesh, saying agriculture in the state was going through a bad patch, but opposed it as a norm.
  
  
• On schemes like the Golden Quadrilateral highways, which were launched by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he said his government would not scrap them.
  
  
• "I assure you we are not out to dismantle the schemes of the previous government. We will make an assessment of the schemes. Roads are a national priority. We will strengthen the road network programme, especially the rural connectivity programme to which attention was not given in the past," Singh said.