New Delhi: Putting his faith in a higher economic growth of seven to eight per cent, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his Government was committed to a moderate and broad-based tax structure that was not "confiscatory" in approach. "If the economy grows by seven to eight per cent, we can finance programmes to meet our goals," he said.

Replying to questions at his press conference here on Wednesday, Dr. Singh made a commitment to deepening economic reforms even as the country heads to over seven per cent growth in the current fiscal. On ways to give the economy a push to 10 per cent growth, he said the creation of productive jobs for youth would help the savings rate rise above the current rate of 29 per cent. Along with increased competitiveness in industry, he felt this would add another two per cent to the existing growth rate, which was already "inching" towards eight per cent. This would put the economy on a high growth path of nine to 10 per cent growth over the next four to five years, he said.

Dr. Singh said the country had reaped the benefits of reforms that were now being recognised globally. Referring to the World Economic Forum meeting recently in Davos, he said India was most sought after at that forum. He did not agree that the fiscal situation with States was deteriorating. In fact, many States were now flush with cash, he pointed out, a situation that had never been witnessed earlier.

Regarding the controversies swirling around the infrastructure sector, including airports modernisation, he said he was not unduly concerned as these issues arose out of the coalition nature of the present UPA Government. In fact, he felt the pressure being exerted by the Left tend to make the Government introspect on economic policies. He did, however, make it clear that disinvestment and privatisation of public sector companies were not being considered for the time being.

Free power

On the propensity of States to offer free power as an election sop, he said he continued to believe that all public utilities must be properly priced. While not opposed to subsidies for the poor, he said pricing should be at a realistic level.

Dr. Singh described his biggest achievement while implementing the reforms process since 1991 as the ability "to stay the course" despite criticism from both the BJP and the Left parties at that stage. As for the steep rise in stock market indices, he was confident that the regulatory mechanism would be adequate to deal with any malpractices in the stock exchanges that were on the verge of breaching the 10,000 mark. He also indicated that a new pay commission for government employees would be set up soon, though he did not indicate any firm time frame.

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