New Delhi: Finance minister P Chidambaram on yesterday told industry representatives he was prepared to revisit the transaction tax rate of 0.15 per cent.

"If anyone can provide me with a better set of numbers than the proposed 0 per cent, 10 per cent and 0.15 per cent tax on long-term capital gains, short-term capital gains and securities transactions, respectively, I will consider that," he said in his post-Budget meetings with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

However, he indicated that the transaction tax was here to stay. "The transaction tax is efficient, neat, non-regressionary, eliminates tax avoidance and everybody contributes to the exchequer," he told FII

The idea for the tax, he said at the CII function, actually came from stock brokers and foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

When asked about his growth expectation for the current fiscal year, Chidambaram said he would be happy if it was between 6 per cent and 7.4 per cent.

"Eight per cent growth is difficult after a year of 8.2 per cent growth. The 8.2 per cent growth of 2003-04 was on the back of a low 4 per cent in the previous fiscal, which is a slight statistical illusion," he said.

On the service tax rate being raised from 8 per cent to 10 per cent, Chidambaram said the effective rate would be 6-7 per cent after factoring in the excise rebates.

"This is the first step towards a goods- and-services tax," he said, adding that globally the single goods-and-services tax rates were between 16 per cent and 17 per cent."