The government on Monday hit out at bureaucracy for not keeping pace with policy changes and promised not to take recourse to borrowings only for meeting revenue deficit as part of efforts to cut down fiscal deficit.
"To achieve fiscal deficit and zero revenue deficit target, India needs a law which stipulates that borrowings shall be only for capital expenditure and not for meeting revenue deficit," Finance Minister Jaswant Singh told the Rajya Sabha while replying to discussions on second batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2003-04.
Singh said, "bureaucracy has not kept pace with policy changes" and expressed concern at slow inflow of foreign direct investment in the country. Bureaucratic hurdles were delaying the process, he said.
India had sought large investments in power generation and other infrastructural sectors but few have actually come on ground, he said.
The Rajya Sabha later approved Rs 7,660.21 crore (Rs 76.6 billion) extra spending by the government in the current fiscal including Rs 2,300 crore (Rs 23 billion) towards compensation to state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd for advancement of rural telephony.
The bill was passed by Lok Sabha last week.