The US has been the largest source of FDI into India with its share ranging between 25-26 per cent of total foreign investment, the minister said. The US sanctions imposed under Glenn Amendment did not put any restrictions on private investment flows into India except that certain financial institutions are disallowed from lending to both public and private sectors in India, he said.

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation and US Exim Bank, which have been playing an important role in guaranteeing and supporting US investment in India, will not extend help as a result of the sanctions, the minister said. Therefore it is understood that US investors aresecuring alternate financial arrangements, he said. The communique on nuclear tests issued on June 12 by G-8 countries does not impose any restriction on foreign direct investment, he underscored.

Foodgrain exports decline, imports up: Foodgrain exports have been on the decline during the last three years against imports growing year by year, commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde said.

He told Madhav Rao Patil in written reply to a question that during 1997-98, import of foodgrain was at Rs 1,805.58 crore against Rs 1,294.62 crore in the previous year. This was mainly because of large scale import of wheat.

Against a quantity of 8,240 metric tonne of wheat in 1995-96, the country imported 13.44 lakh tonne of wheat worth Rs 970 crore in 1997-98. This was against 6.12 tonne of wheat in the previous year.

However, the unit cost of wheat during the period has come down from Rs 12.6 per kg in 1995-96 to Rs 7.22 per kg last year.

Other foodgrain which was has been imported on a large scale waspulses. A total of 6.59 metric tonne of pusles worth Rs 833 crore was imported last year against 6.54 tonne worth Rs 890 crore in 1996-97, and 4.90 tonne of pulses worth Rs 685.57 crore in 1995-96.

The minister said the export of wheat has come down in last three years from Rs 698.45 crore in 1996-97 to just 42 lakh last year. Basmati rice contributed Rs 1,674.34 crore last year, while Rs 1,600 crore came from export of non-basmati rice. Coarse grain contributed Rs 13.24 crore and pulses Rs 35 crore.

Legislations for opening insurance: The government would be introducing the necessary legislations for opening up the insurance sector later in the year.

The insurance sector would be opened up to competition from private Indian companies as announced in the Budget speech of 1998-99, minister of state for finance K M R Janarthanan said in a written reply. Government would also convert insurance regulatory authority into a statutory body, he said.

The minister also informed in a separate reply thatRBI has not stipulated any minimum balance in savings or current account of banks. The minimum balance stipulated by banks for savings account cannot be considered as or at par with fixed deposits adding that it would not be appropriate to consider minimum balance stipulated by banks in savings or current account as fixed deposits for one year, he said.

Government liability up by 60%: The total liability of the government increased by 60 per cent to Rs 7,70,513 crore between 1992-93 and 1996-97. Compared to this government had liability of Rs 4,80,467 crore in 1992-93 comprising internal and external borrowings, and balance in the public accounts, finance minister Yashwant Sinha said in a written reply. The increase in liability was due to successive fiscal deficit incurred for meeting the gap between total expenditure and the non-debt receipts.