Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on India's changing role in the world economy

Yashwant Sinha became India's finance minister when the government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee took office. The Finance Ministry is the mos t powerful economic ministry in India, with responsibility for a very wide range of domestic and international matters. The ministry mobilizes resourc es for development through direct and indirect taxes: draws up budgets for the central government for current expenditures and public investment: and keeps a close watch on macroeconomic growth and stability through policies that affect credit, prices, and exchange rates. The Finance Ministry handle s India's economic relations with foreign nations and international institu tions like the International Monetary Fund. Its officials are represented i n the highest-level committees on foreign investment in India. It regulates external commercial borrowings by Indian organizations and oversees the In dian capital and stock markets, and is also responsible for transferring re sources to state governments for development. For more than a decade, the F inance Ministry has been at the forefront in leading India's economic refor ms and opening up the country to international trade and investment. Yashwant Sinha is the latest in a series of technocrats to assume charge of the Finance Ministry. After obtaining his master's degree in political sci ence in 1958 from Patna University in Bihar, India, Mr. Sinha taught for tw o years at his alma mater. In 1960, he was selected to serve in the Indian Administrative Service. After 24 years in India's elite civil service, he r esigned to join active politics as a member of the Janata Party. In 1988, h e wars elected to India's upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha. He se rved as finance minister for three short periods prior to his 1999 assignme nt. He is currently a member of the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabh a. Mr. Sinha serves as chair of the joint Ministerial Committee of the Worl d bank and the IMF on Development. Portions of Mr. Sinha's statement to the 60th meeting of that committee are included in the interview below.