Revealing the outcome of a meeting he held with customs and excise department officials of southern Indian earlier in the day, Sinha said that revenue targets will be met if not exceeded in the southern region. This coupled with strict expenditure controls will help the country avoid fiscal slipage beyond the project fiscal deficit of 5.6 per cent.

The finance minister was speaking at an interactive session organised jointly by the FICCI and local chambers like the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) and the Greater Mysore Chambers of Industry (GMCI) in the city.

To speed up the proccess of efficient tax collection Sinha said he would meet tax officials in all major centres of the country. Addedto this is the ``Saral'' scheme introduced in the union budget. ``Simplifications in tax administration at the ground level are also on the cards'', he added.

This will be part of an exercise being undertaken by the minister to boost confidence in the business and trade community and also create an interactive atmosphere. Visits to several important cities will form part of the minister's agenda in the coming weeks.

Sinha emphasised the importance of September 15, which was a crucial date for the minister to announce several new measures in conjuction with industry chambers. Moreover, this date is also going to be synonymous with a step up in public sector investment in infrastructure and the busy-season for business. ``The centre is trying to give shape to all spending programmes by mid-September and the industry will feel a palpable movement in the economy by then'', he said.

The government is going ahead with its plans for public sector disinvestment begining with divestment of Concor in Septemberand Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in October. The centre is planning to divest the public sector shares at market price in order to provide suitable benefit to the potential investors.

``The idea is not to raise funds through PSU disinvestments in order to meet the shortfall in revenue during the year but to provide a long term policy of reform and disposal of existing assets to people so that the government can create new assets for the people.'' He further said the government will soon take a decision to sell off sick public sector units and disinvestment of non-strategic PSUs.