•But, what about growth? What are your expectations?

I am confident growth will be between 8 per cent and 8.5 per cent.

•Will you be able to push through economic reforms given the time available with the UPA government?

It depends on how much support we are able to garner. It depends on the support we have inside Parliament and outside. The economic agenda we talked about in the last five Budget speeches remains the same, and intact. I intend to reach out to every section in Parliament and seek their support on the economic agenda.

•Will you be willing to talk to the Bharatiya Janata Party and seek its support?

Here is a statement by Mr Yashwant Sinha. “If the Prime Minister approaches the Opposition leader with a specific proposal, we will examine it.” I welcome that statement. The standing committee on finance was chaired by a BJP member, Maj Gen BC Khanduri. Today, it is again chaired by another BJP member, Mr Anantha Kumar. But there are other parties too that are broadly supportive of reforms. We will reach out to all sections, all parties in Parliament and seek their support.

•There is some sense of euphoria about reforms in the financial sector? But, it clearly isn’t as easy as is being made out, isn’t it?

The point is, those Bills were introduced in the House in the hope that they will be passed. Two Bills (one to amend the Banking Regulation Act and another on pension reforms) are actually pending in the House after having been reported favourably by the standing committee. Other Bills are in the pipeline. Therefore, having introduced or drawn up the Bills with the intention of passing them, at this stage as finance minister I can only say one thing: I still intend to press with the Bills. We are not introducing any new Bills. We are only talking about legislations in the pipeline and two of them are in the final stage.

... contd.