Aim is to dampen realty, housing demand: FM

Terming 13.6% industrial growth in April as a good start for the year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the government did not intend to curb demand except in overheated sectors such as housing and real estate.

"The intention is to constrain demand in those sectors where there are signs of what you call overheating. An example of which could be real estate and housing," Chidambaram said.

The country's industrial production rose 13.6% in April this year from 9.9% in the same month last year. While manufacturing recorded a robust 15.1% growth, mining grew by 3.4%.

On the impact of RBI's measures to tighten money supply in these sectors, he said these steps work with a time lag and it might take time to have their impact on the intended sectors.

In other sectors, however, there is no intention to reduce demand, Chidambaram said.

The government is also worried of a slowdown in some sectors such as textiles in view of the strengthening of rupee against the dollar.