While most of the businessmen welcomed Sinha as Finance Minister, they add that it would be the pace of reforms which matters the most. Said Shrichand Hinduja, chairman of Hinduja group of companies: ``We hope the finance minister will introduce radical economic reforms to further instill confidence among the overseas investors... the international investors are hopeful that the new millennium will see India emerge as an economic superpower.'' Corporate heads also welcomed the appointment of Manohar Joshi as the Minister for Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises and Ram Naik as the Minister for the crucial Petroleum Ministry.

``Both of them are good administrators.In the medium term, divestment process should be accelerated and fiscal deficit should be decreased by two per cent in the next three years so that economy can pick up momentum,'' said a Mumbai-based corporate head.

Adds Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) president Pradeep Chinai: ``Sinha and other ministers should push pending economic legislations on a priority basis as well as announce a statement of intentions on the basic tenets of second generation reforms to boost confidence of domestic as well as foreign investors.'' Similarly, business captains feel Maran who did a good job as Industry Minister in Deve Gowda and Gujral regimes would be an asset to the Vajpayee government.

``Now that we have a fairly stable government, we are confident that the 100-odd pending bills will be passed by the Parliament without any hitch,'' he added. ``To infuse a sense of confidence and send positive message to both domestic and foreign investors, the government should set out the rationale behind second generationreforms and usher them in a faster clip than the first phase,'' he added.

Chinai said Sinha's agenda should be to control rising fiscal deficit through expenditure management, particularly the revenue side of budget, and explore avenues of public sector unit (PSU) disinvestment further. ``There was need to prepare a comprehensive package to deal with emerging problems of the agricultural sector and in the next 100 days, the government should announce a competition policy,'' he said.

According to former president of FIEO Ramu Deora, inclusion of Yashwant Sinha in the Cabinet should end up with the post of finance minister for him. ``As he was a bureaucrat himself he can push for economic reforms through the bureaucracy which is still mired in red tape,'' he said. ``There is no reason why Sinha should not be the finance minister,'' he added.

``He is bold and can take steps which should open up the economy further... I would welcome Sinha in North Block,'' he added and warned that finance ministry shouldnot be bifurcated.

While welcoming Sinha, BSE brokers say that a re-rating of Indian assets could take place based on government action on the second phase of reform. ``An aggressive disinvestment programme, meaning privatisation rather than just a share float would mean that a new bull phase on the markets," said BSE broker BV Shah. Few investors are over-exposed in Indian stocks and bonds, while many are waiting to build up their portfolios if they see the government make a quantum leap in reforms.

``For a country of this size, foreign investment has been woefully slow, even after eight years of economic liberalisation, with India attracting only around five per cent of the $ 45 billion China attracted last year... thus, steps should be taken by the ministers to get higher FDI inflow into India,'' he said.