In a bid to ease the liquidity pressure in the monetary system, the union government has directed public sector enterprises to keep their surplus funds with public sector banks (PSBs) without any competitive bid. Total surplus funds amounts to about 1,00,000 cror. This amount would meet fund requirement of the banks, as they have already used funds to cover government sponsored farm loan waiver and other debts.

New Delhi, Nov 4 : Finance Minister P Chidambaram met top executives of PSU banks today to review the liquidity situation and performance of lenders.

The meeting comes a day after the captains of Indian industry met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and demanded steps for enhancing liquidity and steps to create environment conducive for lowering of interest rates.

Sivaganga, Oct 25 : Finance Minister P Chidamabram today said that the government will take care to see that the global recession did not have any direct impact on the Indian economy that will continue to grow at eight percent this fiscal.

The eight percent growth rate achieved in the previous years would be sustained this year, he said at the inauguration of the renovated spinning mill of the National Textile Corp at Kalaiyarkoil in his constituency.

Though the Indian economy was linked with the world economy, the global recession would not have any direct impact on the country''s economy, he said.

New Delhi, Oct 24 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram today said that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)''s policy review was on expected lines to manage India''s financial stability.

He described the RBI statement an important announcement that the central bank would employ both conventional and unconventional methods to ensure financial stability.

New Delhi, Oct 23 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday advised investors not to indulge in panic sale of stocks.

Chidambaram’s comment came after Sensex (the country’s main stock index) plunged to its lowest since June 2006 amidst a gloomy economic outlook all over the world.

The Finance Minister also assured that there was adequate liquidity in the banking system and that banks should lend aggressively.

Benchmarks opened below psychological levels (10,000 for Sensex and 3000 for Nifty) following sharp declines overnight in US and Asian stocks, which tumbled to

New Delhi, Oct 15 : Finance Minister P Chidambaram has announced that the Reserve Bank of India will immediately release Rs 25,000 crore to commercial banks, cooperative banks and RRBs under the farm loan waiver scheme.

He also announced doubling of the investment limit to six billion dollars for foreign institutional investors in corporate bonds.

The series of announcements came on a day when stock markets tanked, with the benchmark Sensex losing 674 points, reversing the two-day winning streak.