``Of course, economy will be affected if the Kargil conflict is not wrapped up in a matter of few weeks,'' Singh said. Talking to reporters here after releasing the paperback edition of a book on ``The theory of the global firm'' by Vinay Bharat Ram, chairman DCM Limited, the senior congress leader preferred to be cautious on specifics.

``I don't have inside information. It makes good sense if the situation is controlled within a few weeks,'' he added commenting on the fact that the Indian army has been fighting the Pakistan-backed intruders for the last six weeks.

On the possibility of achieving the 1999-2000 disinvestment target of Rs 10,000 crore, Singh lamented that there is no disinvestment exercise in practice.

He picked out the case of Indian Airlines to point out the casual attitude of the government towardsdisinvestment of PSUs. ``I have not seen any government behaving so irresponsibly with Indian Airlines. How can it force an airline to buy planes which will surely push it into red,'' he asked referring to the purchase of ATR 42 - 500 50-seater plane.

Commenting on the current state of the economy, the former finance minister said there are some signals of a pick-up but he cautioned that the critical factor for a true revival is the state of business confidence. And it depends on both domestic and international factors, he added.

Earlier, speaking at the book release function, mr singh said the tide of globalisation is irreversible. ''indian companies have to take crucial decisions on technology and other matters in the context of rapid currency rates changes.''