With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh favouring full float of the rupee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the government and RBI would in the next few days announce steps on capital account convertibility of the Indian currency.
"The prime minister has made a very definitive statement day before yesterday and RBI and the government would announce next steps (on capital account convertibility) in a few days from now," he said at a CII function.
Full float of the rupee would facilitate conversion of the Indian currency into foreign currency and vice versa -- a move that would help attract greater investments. At present, the rupee is convertible on current account, basically for trade purposes.
Chidambaram said the finance ministry and RBI had discussions on capital account convertibility of the rupee and the issue could have been part of the Budget 2006-07.
"But it was pulled out of the Budget as it could have overshadowed other fiscal policy announcements," he told reporters later.
The prime minister said, on Saturday in Mumbai, that he had requested the finance ministry and the RBI to revisit the issue of full convertibility of the rupee and come out with a roadmap on it based on current realities.
Do you want to discuss stock tips? Do you know a hot one? Join the Stock Market Discussion Group.