Chidambaram to seek faster PSU investments

Finance minister P Chidambaram will today meet the heads of nine blue chip public sector undertakings, which are sitting on a cash pile of Rs1.8 lakh crore, to speed up their investment plans.

Emphasising that the government is committed to speedy clearances of large infrastructure projects, Arvind Mayaram, secretary in the department of economic affairs, told a FICCI seminar in New Delhi, ''We are looking at better access to finance. So, all the projects including the private sector projects, large projects which are awaiting financial closure, are now being monitored on a fortnightly basis by the Department of Financial Services.''

A tracking system has been put in place to ensure that the financial closure takes place quickly, the secretary said.

''We have also identified, for instance, presently just in two sectors - roads and petroleum - where projects are waiting for clearances and are ready for investments,'' Mayaram said.

The problems have been identified and the finance minister intends to take them up at the cabinet level for clearances or decisions, he said.

''I would say, whether they are cleared or not is a decision which the government will have to take at the highest level, but the decision would be taken in a time-bound manner,'' the official said.