Letters: From deficit to a surplus

This refers to the editorial "Keep to fiscal path" (February 23). The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act seems to have been kept aside for quite some time. Its relevance today assumes a lot of importance in the context of keeping the fiscal deficit under control, when the means to find resources to finance infrastructure development are scary given the fact that the government remains averse to taking some bold decisions. The economy has abundant resources not only to wipe out the fiscal deficit but also to fund infrastructural development.

These resources can be found in the country's gold reserves, black money held in and outside the economy and the non-performing assets held in public sector banks and undertakings. If the government can take some steps to convert these unproductive and undesirable assets into productive ones, they would be enough to convert the fiscal deficit into a surplus.

T V Gopalakrishnan Bengaluru

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