Addressing the annual general meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci)in the capital, the finance minister also made a case for removal of price controls on a host of commodities but admitted that it was not an easy task.

``We must let the market determine prices. Though it is very difficult for the government to do away with price controls on certain commodities, it is important for internal liberalisation,'' Sinha said.

The finance minister said the expansion of the automatic approval list would bring almost all areas under the automatic route except certain sensitive sectors.

``We are already working on the policy and should be able to announce the decision soon. Once the policy is put in place, most projects should be cleared under the automatic route,'' he said.

Sinha said it would address thelong-standing demand of the industry that government approvals took a long time. ``Only when an entrepreneur makes an exception that he should go to the administrative ministry or the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for taking necessary approvals,'' he added.

Dwelling on the areas of concern in the economy, Sinha said globalisation is a fact of life from which no country can run away and what the country needs to focus on now is to become strong and capable to face the challenges of globalisation. ``A lot has been done on this front but a lot still needs to be done,'' he said.

Sinha said the finance ministry was giving prime importance to keep fiscal deficit under control. ``Macro balances in the budget must be re-established. We need a great deal of discipline. We have to put a cap on market borrowings of the government,'' he emphasised, adding that the fiscal deficit must be brought within 3 per cent of the gross domestic product as the country can no longer afford deficit of 7-8 per cent asseen in the past two decades.

The finance minister said that he had clearly told a group of secretaries at a meeting on Saturday that he would not be able to sanction additional budgetary allocations to their ministries. ``I told them I have nothing to give,'' said.

The finance minister said that one of the reasons for the present state of the domestic industry was cheap imports.

``We have to put in a world class infrastructure and a financial system which provides money at low interest rates to provide a level playing field. We have to take very strong steps in this area and very shortly,'' the finance minister said.

Sinha stressed on the need to have a common market for commodities in the country, especially for agricultural goods, by removal of restrictions on movements of goods among the states. ``World over countries are moving towards regional trading blocs and Saarc countries have taken initiative to establish a common marketplace,'' the finance minister said, adding that in such a scenario,barriers within states on movement of goods must be removed.

Dwelling on the issue of reservation for the small- scale industries sector, Sinha said ``It has played an important role and continues to do so. But can we continue with small- scale industries reservations in light of international economic scenario.''

Meanwhile, noted industrialists Gouri Prasad Goenka and AC Muthiah were on Sunday elected senior vice-president and vice-president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, respectively for the current year.

The reconstituted executive committee of Ficci met under the chairmanship of newly-elected president Sudhir Jalan and elected the new office-bearers.Goenka is the chairman of Duncan group of companies and former president of Indian Chamber of Commerce, Calcutta. Muthiah, at present heads Spic.