Speaking at the 73rd annual session of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), he said that the government was committed to economic reforms and globalisation, but they will be done at a pace that suits the country, and not as desired by any international agency or foreign country.

Alluding to the criticism by World Economic Forum president Claude Smadja a few days back, Mr Sinha said, "We refuse to listen to unsolicited advice, because such advice often comes from people who are not aware of all the problems."

"The government is not going to shy away from, avoid or erect barriers to globalisation. The country will take globalisation headlong and gain from the opportunities it offers. We will sail with it rather than go against it," he said.

Mr Sinha also said that when he levied a surcharge on the corporate sector, he did mention it would be a "temporary" measure. "But temporary could be for one year or two years."

Commenting on the success of Resurgent India Bonds (1998) and the India Millennium Deposits (2000), he said, "We no longer need to go to anybody with arms stretched." Today, the country can boast of $39.5 million, whereas not a single dollar came during the 1990-91 crisis, he added.

"Help from the Indian Diaspora is extremely important," Mr Sinha said.He pointed out that the divestment target of Rs 10,000 crore for this fiscal was just "indicative," which has been put in because during the Budget-making process all the aspects of privatisation could not be envisaged.

There has been a policy shift on the divestment front. Taking pride in the fact that he was the first finance minister to use the word "privatisation," Mr Sinha said that no longer the government is talking in terms of offloading 5, 10 or 20 per cent of equity in this or that PSU.

"Now, we are looking for strategic sales along with change of management. This is privatisation." This, however, is not an easy process. Problems crop up from politicians and trade unions. While these people criticised the government for its decision to bring down equity to 33 per cent in public sector banks, champions of liberalisation criticised the government for going too slow, Mr Sinha pointed out.

He said there are three reasons why the second generation of reforms are posing to be difficult and contentious. First, these reforms pertain to crucial areas like the public and financial sectors, SSIs and labour.

Second, they will require legislative action, while the first generation of reforms were often brought out by administrative fiats. Finally, the second generation of reforms presuppose working more closely with state governments, Mr Sinha said. It is in this context that the Centre will soon be calling a meeting with all the chief ministers, he added.