Reacting to concerns raised by the members of the Consultative Committee of finance ministry on Wednesday, he also reiterated that the "government is behind the UTI in protecting the interest of investors."

The minister further added that the UTI was a vehicle for small investors to participate in the capital market and reap benefits of their savings and investments. The investor base of US-64 scheme is over two crore.

All the members of the consultative committee wanted the government to fully protect the interest of investors which have invested their savings in the UTI scheme.

The members also appreciated the timely assurance given by the finance minister soon after his return from Washington about fully backing the UTI and especially the standtaken by the government with regard to the US-64 scheme.

The consultative committee meeting also discussed the issue of sanctions and government's response in the aftermath of Pokharan explosions. The members were informed that the over a period of time the intensity of sanctions got diluted. Also there was an increasing realisation that those imposing the sanctions would suffer equally if not more.

The finance minister told the members that the foreign debt and direct portfolio investments had not been affected significantly by the sanctions. He further said that the Resurgent India Bonds (RIB) had an overwhelming response and had established India's ability to raise money in the international market at a time when all over the world there was turbulence in the international economy.

Sinha informed the members about the outcome of his recent visit to Canada and Washington to participate in the Commonwealth and IMF-World Bank annual meetings. He told the members that at these meetings he had outlined aseven-point action plan to find solutions to the world's economic malice.

He added that India had submitted for consideration a new international financial architecture that would make the world financial system more resilient.

He told the members that according to finance ministry's analysis the East Asian crisis was triggered due to excessive cross border borrowing and lending especially of short loans. He stressed that there was no such danger in the case of India as over the years successive governments had ensured that short term loans and borrowings were kept minimal.

The members expressed their satisfaction over the fact that the sanctions were slowly wearing off and wanted the government to carry on negotiations to blunt the effect of sanctions. They also urged the government to step up the disbursement rate for loans taken from bilateral and multi-lateral institutions.

Among those who were present at the meeting were Sartaj Singh, P Shiv Shankar, Sreenivasulu Reddy, Murli S Deora, GurudasKamat, Chinta Mohan, S Sudhakar Reddy, S Jaipal Reddy, R Muthiah, Ramesh Jigajingai, Banguru Laxman, K R Malkani, Raghavji, K K Birla, D Venkateswara Rao, P Prabhakar Reddy, Ashok Mitra and Amar Singh.