"Economic fundamentals have not changed over the last four days. Forex reserves have moved past $163 billion, and inflation continues to remain below 4 per cent. The manufacturing sector is growing at 9 per cent. The India story continues to grow, and there is no change in that."
Talking about the stock market crash over the last few days, Chidambaram said the fall in global metal prices and other global factors led to the decline.
"While foreign institutional investors play an important role, mutual funds, too, play an equally important role. While FIIs were net sellers over the past four days of Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion), mutual funds were net buyers of Rs 2,803 crore (Rs 28.03 billion) - both in equity and debt."
Referring to the CBDT circular that reportedly caused the crash, Chidambaram said the circular does not talk about FIIs, and does not deal with any specific case.
"FIIs have no permanent establishments in India, and are covered under the double taxation avoidance treaty. FIIs are aware of their positions. Moreover, 70 FIIs have identified themselves as traders," he added.
Chidambaram refused to comment on the left parties statement on the markets, but added that there is no plan to re-introduce long-term capital gains tax.
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