Addressing a seminar on recession at the Indian Merchants Chamber here he said that the infrastructure projects are delayed not because of the lack of money but due to delays at the implementation stage. The governement is not in a position to indulge in the `Keynesian pump-priming' owing to high rate of inflation, he said.

The recession across the world will pose a serious problem for India's exports and devaluation of the currency can be used to tackle this, he said and added that it is to be seen as to how far the country can digest inflation.

Commenting on the huge investments made in the telecom sector, he said that these were `euphoric investments' made without market research and not ecnomic investments based on future returns.

Thereare certain shifts in the consumption pattern caused by the industrial boom and in certain sectors, like capital goods, this is not in the interest of the country's growth.

At a time when the capital goods expenditure should go up it is shrinking as also the exports, he said.

Allaying confusion over recession he said that it should be judged by the overall performance of the industry and not by the performance of individual players. He cited the example of polyester industry where only one player is making profits and others are almost on the verge of closure.