Replying to written questions, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said the draft of the new Act was under consideration of the government and was proposed to be introduced in the budget session of the Lok Sabha. Sinha said a Constitution Amendment Bill to create a single divisible pool for almost all central taxes with 29 per cent share devolving to the states was also likely to be introduced in the current session.

He said the government has accepted the recommendation of the Tenth Finance Commission in this regard on the basis of a consensus reached in the third meeting of inter-state council held last year.

Meanwhile, the government has also constituted a special task force (STF) to suggest measures for raising more resources by states and devolution of additional financial powers to them.

The finance minister saidthe STF has submitted its first report to the government and the term of the task force has been extended upto July 31, this year.

GDP: Sinha said as per advance estimates of Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1997-98 has decelerated to five per cent from 7.5 per cent in 1996-97. The fall in GDP growth was due to a sharp fall in the growth rate in agriculture and a deceleration in the growth rate of industry, he said.

Subsidy: The minister said aggregate subsidy in 1994-95 for all goods/services provided by the central and state governments was placed at Rs 137,338 crore constituting 14.4 per cent of GDP. This includes a subsidy of Rs 35,193 crore on merit goods/services and Rs 102,145 crore on non-merit goods/services.

WB aid: The World Bank is aiding projects worth $ 14.09 billion in the country accounting for a total number of 99 projects, Sinha said. He said out of this, 14 projects involving an amount of $ 2.0 billion werecompleted during 1997-98 and 85 projects involving a total of $ 12.08 billion were still on-going.

FDI: Sinha said the actual inflow of FDI since 1991 to the country was to the tune of Rs 32,641.64 crore compared to cumulative FDI approval of Rs 150,578.042 crore.