Top Finance Ministry officials worked overtime on the weekend to firm up additional steps to arrest the sliding value of the rupee and contain the current account deficit (CAD).
Continuing the discussions initiated by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram held a meeting of senior officials, including Additional Secretary (Capital Markets) K. P. Krishnan and top tax officials.
Some announcements are likely to be made by the Ministry on Monday, sources said.
The steps being contemplated by the Ministry to check the rupee fall and boost forex flows include further relaxation of external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms for state-owned companies, curbs on import of non-essential goods and encouragement to exports.
Dr. Mayaram, after a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council in Mumbai earlier this week, had said, “You should wait till the end of the week. The Finance Minister will be talking about this (outcome of the meeting) later.”
Mr. Chidambaram held meetings on Friday with senior officials, including Commerce Secretary S. R. Rao.
