'Everybody is aware of the gravity of the situation.'

Mukherjee also said he will stick to his promise of placing a draft direct tax code within 45 days of taking over as finance minister, and that it will be tabled in the winter session of parliament after discussions and debate.

'We will make some major changes in the tax administration and related laws in the country,' he said. 'Reforms will be very much on our agenda. It is a continuing process.'

According to the minister, the country will return to a high growth path of 9 percent soon as the signs regarding that were positive. But for that, the farm sector also needed to grow by at least 4 percent per annum.

He also said it was because of the fiscal stimuli of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government since December last year amounting to Rs.2,140 billion ($42 billion) that India was able to grow by 6.7 percent last fiscal.

-Indo-Asian News Service

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