Mumbai: Emphasising on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government's commitment to economic reforms, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today (Jun 3, 2004) said that the country is expected to "see a rush" of investments in next 10 months, especially in the power sector.

"It is a happy development that after a prolonged investment drought, we can see investments picking up. Bankers and industrialists told me that we will see a rush of investments in next 10 months," Chidambaram said in his brief statement on conclusion of the two-day visit to the city.

Financial closure has been achieved for six power projects of 3,700 MW capacity and another 10 projects with a capacity of around 7,000 MW are in the pipeline, which was a good sign, he added.

Apart from these, there were several other projects from other sectors too in the pipeline, he said adding," It is my job to promote investments in the economy."

Chidambaram, who interacted with stockbrokers, bankers, RBI Governor Y V Reddy, industry captains, and FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investment), said, "Practically everybody is satisfied that the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) will take the reform process forward and make India a strong economy."

"I have come here to give a direct message that the UPA Government headed by Manmohan Singh is committed to the path of reforms and will take steps to advance them," he said adding, "it would also look at maintaining fiscal prudence and financial discipline."

He would soon make up for his inability to meet those from mutual funds, either in Delhi or Mumbai.