India will carry on asset sales as planned - finance minister

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will press on with its plan to sell stakes in state firms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, despite a steep fall in equity markets.

The government aims to raise nearly $11 billion from asset sales in the fiscal year that began in April.

However, a recent sell-off in equity markets, on worries about the health of Asia's third-largest economy as well as concerns the central bank would no longer cut interest rates this year, is threatening the asset sales programme.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)