Plan Panel for delinking of disinvestment from GBS

the planning commission is understood to be in favour of delinking gross budgetary support from disinvestment accruals, planned at rs 80,000 crore during the tenth plan period 2002-07, while seeking a budgetary support of rs 1,13,000 crore for the next fiscal year. the issue, along with the gbs for the tenth plan, is expected to be finalised at a meeting between the deputy chairman, planning commission k c pant and the finance minister yashwant sinha on friday, official sources said here. the proposal to delink gbs from disinvestment proceeds comes in the backdrop of the failure to mop up the targetted rs 6,000 crore for the gbs through privatisation in the current fiscal year. the commission in its approach paper for the tenth plan has targeted rs 17,000 crore annually from the process of disinvestment. sources said the commission has pegged the gbs for the next fiscal at rs 1,13,000 crore, up from rs 98,700 crore in the current fiscal. the commission was also eyeing an ambitious jump of close to 190 per cent in the gbs for the tenth plan period at over rs 7,00,000 crore from rs 3,74,000 crore in the ninth plan period. the commission had identified infrastructure and power as the thrust areas during the plan period to pump-prime the economy.