PSU divestment in the air as Mukherjee begins budget work

25 May 2009

The market is agog with expectations of revival of the PSU divestment policy with the second coming of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the centre, even as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee got down to the task of budget preparation.

Mukherjee, who formally assumed charge of his finance portfolio today, convened a meeting of top officials on the preparation of the national budget.

''Immediately after assuming charge, Mukherjee had a series of meetings with all senior officers of the ministry and reviewed the status of various programmes and issues related to all departments of the ministry," an official statement said today, adding, "Issues relating to forthcoming budget were also discussed at the meetings."

Earlier, during his brief interaction with the media on Saturday, Mukherjee had said that he hoped to present the budget soon and promised immediate steps to pull the Indian economy out of its present woes.

"All economic issues will be addressed. My priority is to put the economy back on track. Various efforts will be made to insulate the Indian economy from the adverse impact of the financial meltdown," said Mukherjee.
 
Mukherjee, however, declined to comment on whether he intended to present a vote-on-account first. "I hope to present the budget in due course," he said.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram had earlier, after the first meeting of the union cabinet, hinted at the possibility of a vote on account.