Measures on the anvil to stop second hand car imports -- Joshi

Measures on the anvil to stop second hand car imports -- Joshi

NEW DELHI: Government will soon announce measures to stop import of second hand cars in India as part of the proposed auto policy, Heavy Industry Minister Manohar Joshi said here today.

Asked about the government's stance in the proposed policy on import of second hand cars into India, Joshi said "I do not favour import of second hand cars."

On whether the government would take recourse to tariff and non-tariff barriers to prevent such imports, the Minister said that the policy would provide for adequate measures including the barriers.

He said near total agreement had been reached at the secretary level between his Ministry and Commerce Ministry on the proposed policy and the proposal would be sent to Cabinet after he had discussed it with Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran.

Joshi said that he would also seek Cabinet's approval byDecember for the proposed White Paper on Public Sector Undertakings and added that it need not go through Parliament.

Joshi said his ministry would soon send 4-5 proposals topartment of Disinvestment (DoD) for disinvestment in these PSUs after Financial restructuring on the lines of Paradeep Phosphate Ltd (PPL) which was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment yesterday.

He said PSUs should not be singled out for criticism onthe ground of inefficiency and pointed out that there were many private companies also which were falling sick.

Asked about DoD's contention that PSUs on the whole wereposting negative rate of return with the exception of those which were operating under Administrative Pricing Mechanism, Joshi said "I have even told Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that there are many PSUs which were performing well without government support."

There were many PSUs which needed some government supportfor doing well, he said.