Chidambaram's "not to panic" appeal

New Delhi, Oct 13 : Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today appealed to the Indian public not to panic over the impact of the global financial crisis and exuded confidence about the public's money being safe in banks.

Chidambaram's remarks had a positive affect on domestic stock markets. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex opened at 113 point more and regained the 11,000-mark.

He hoped that the country's economy would emerge stronger soon.

"I am confident the Indian economy will weather the (current financial) storm and emerge stronger," Chidambaram said while addressing a press meet this morning in the Capital.

He said this was a time of uncertainty and investors needed to take "informed" decisions. "Investors should keep in mind that when someone is selling, there's somebody in the market who is buying. Efforts should be made to understand why that person is buying," he added.

He informed the reporters that the Union Government, RBI and SEBI were coordinating on an hourly basis and would come up with a set of measures soon. "The government is working on more measures to improve liquidity, which is the root cause of the current problem in the markets, he said further, adding it would respond swiftly according to needs of situation," he said.

Speaking about the price rise, Chidambaram said that crude oil and, commodity prices' fall had a beneficial impact on the inflationary trend.

ANI