CITU faults FM for submitting to US fund managers' blackmail

New Delhi, May 19 (UNI) Centre of Indian Trade Unions today called for an introspection on the part of the UPA government, particularly the finance ministry, in the wake of the continous fall at the stock market for the last two days.

The developments in the share market, which has witnessed a crash on Wednesday, call for an introspection on the part of the UPA government, particularly the finance ministry, the CITU said in a statement.

''Highs and lows that mark the speculative share market movements could not be the sole barometer of the strength of our country.'' The finance minister, blaming the crash on 'uninformed reporting by a section of the media, bordered on a panicky response to the blackmail by the US fund managers, who had made forthright demand from the Indian government that no tax liability should arise on their fees, it said.

''The finance minister has submitted to this blackmail by choosing to classify the Foreign Institutional Investors as a whole as investors and not traders, even for the limited purpose of subjecting to tax management fee paid by them.'' In the process, the finance minister sought to obliterate the demarcation between FIIs and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), it added.

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