Addressing the annual economic editors' conference here on Wednesday, finance minister Yashwant Sinha said an effective mechanism to monitor global finances was necessary to prevent "unscrupulous global operators from trampling national interests" of developing countries as was the case in east Asia.

On the domestic front, the minister underlined the need to rejuvenate the missing "feel-good" factor and said he was determined to contain the fiscal deficit at 5.6 per cent by garnering more than Rs 5,000 crore through the disinvestment of public sector shares, better tax collections and tight control on expenditure.

While emphasising the need for an orderly global financial system, the minister felt that institutions like IMF and World Bank must put in place some arrangement urgently so that no country was left at the mercy of afew unscrupulous operators.

He said, "No country in the world can allow its national interests to be trampled upon by unrestricted, unchecked and indisciplined international operators," and added that the global village could no longer afford total lack of compassion and mercy of market forces.

Sinha said he would ask the IMF and World Bank to find a way to help the developing countries without actually imposing any pre-conditions on them as there was no single international model for solving such currency crisis.

International financial institutions should play the role of the "lender of the last resort," he said, stating that there must be appraisal norms and clear policy parameters as no country or individual could have the "totality of wisdom".

Sinha also stressed that foreign investors continued to be welcome and there has been no change in government policies in attracting foreign direct investment and, if at all there was any change, it was only to make the policy moreinvestor-friendly.

"India will not retreat to protectionism," he asserted, adding that this is not our case. "Our case is increasing globalisation," he said. He said there were examples of several developing countries which could not adapt to change. These countries have been overtaken by events.

He said India still remained a favourite destination for investments as foreigners perceived it as a stable economy, compared with the turbulence elsewhere.

Sinha further said that during his visit abroad, he would like to remove misgivings from the minds of prospective investors and impress upon them that India was a safe investment destination.

He said a negative image was sought to be created about India "of a pre-historic era of stone age men trying to club foreign investors. Nothing could be further from truth than this," he said.