Finance Minister P Chidambaram sought the support of Chief Ministers for passage of pension, banking and insurance bill so that more resources could be mobilised for the 11th Plan.

"This morning, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh referred to the need for a strong and innovative financial sector in mobilising resources. Some steps in this regard can be taken through executive action but major legislative changes are also required," he said in his intervention at the NDC meeting.

During the meeting, which has been called to finalise the Approach Paper to the 11th Plan, he said: "The Central government will make all possible efforts to maximise revenues as well as non-debt capital receipts... while doing so, we should observe fiscal prudence and create enough fiscal space to meet the legitimate needs of financing the Plan."

By following this prudent path, it is possible to reconcile our adherence to FRBM with an appropriate 11th Plan size.

"We need investments and in our anxiety to enhance public investment, we should take care to resist the temptation of fiscal profligacy," he said.

"The experience of past few years has shown the benefits of fiscal prudence along FRBM lines. FRBM has proved its usefulness and we should resist every temptation of upsetting it."

Chidambaram said the current inflation is "unacceptably high" and we would like to bring it down.