The chamber has said that fiscal policies should be saving friendly and a savings rate of 30 pre cent of GDP should be aimed at within a specified time frame. This would particularly require reducing or eliminating the negative rate prevailing in the public system where there is dis-saving instead of net saving, the Phdcci said.

The gross domestic savings rate as percentage of GDP stood at 22.3 per cent in 1998-99 while the gross domestic investment rate as percentae of GDP stood at 23.4 per cent.

This was quite low compared to newly industrialised Asian economies where the corresponding rates were about 30 per cent of GDP, the Phdcci paper said.

In India, domestic savings rates have not shown any significant upward trend since 1991. The savings rate, as a per cent of gdp has in fact fallen from a peak of 25.5 per cent in 1995 to 22.3 per cent in 1998-99, the chamber said.

A similar trend is noticeable in the domestic investment rates with the rate being same for 1991 and 1998-99 (23.4 per cent).