Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said on October 23 that the Indian government would go "full speed and full throttle" in implementing hard and difficult decisions to effect fiscal consolidation and reforms, a pre-requisite for accelerating economic growth.

　 "We do not plan to loose any time, not even a moment" to implement the reform process, the minister told a seminar organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

　 "We are determined to move forward full speed, full throttle in not only in the next 100 days but the whole of the next five years as we determined to change the face of the country," he added.

　 Obviously referring to the on-going strike by transporters all over the country in protest against the over 35 percent increase in diesel prices, Sinha asked Indians to prepare for hard and difficult decisions by the government.

　 "Populism has not paid and will not pay in the long-term and it is only through hard, difficult decisions which might hit the vested interests, will the country move forward," said the financial manager of the country.

　 Ruling out any roll-back of diesel prices, Sinha said: "we shall not shrink from taking hard and difficult decisions and in the next five years we will have to change the face of this country to carry forward the reform to benefit people at the grass-root level."

　 Expressing concern over the burgeoning fiscal deficit, the minister said out of over 1,500 billion rupees (approximately 34.88 billion US dollars) of revenue collected, as much as 900 billion rupees (some 20.9 billion dollars) go towards interest payment on debts.

　 Asserting that fiscal consolidation was not a mere condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sinha said it was a real issue for all concerned as "we can't afford to keep on borrowing year after year at the cost of future generations."

　 However, he warned against any artificial or rigid cap on borrowing hitting plan and social investments as it would have deleterious effect on the economy.

　 He emphasized the need to cut non-plan expenditure, saying the government was committed to implementing zero-based budgeting by retiring several earlier plan projects for which allocations were still made despite the fact they had outlived their utility.

　 The central government would soon convene a meeting of state chief ministers and finance ministers for a phased introduction of a unified single rate value added tax system which is part of the reform process, said Sinha.

　 Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has already indicated that deepening of tax reforms was the top most priority of his government.