New Delhi, June 12: The government will take steps to check demand in overheated sectors such as housing and real estate. There are, however, no plans to constrain the overall demand in the economy.

“Our intention is to check demand in those sectors where there are signs of overheating such as real estate and housing. I think in these sectors there has been a reduction in demand,” finance minister P. Chidambaram said today. However, in other sectors there is no intention to reduce demand, he added.

The government was also worried of a slowdown in the export sector because a stronger rupee meant these segments were becoming uncompetitive in the global markets. “We will look into it,” Chidambaram said, adding paper and mining were also not doing well.

Officials said there was a time lag between the steps taken to tighten money supply and its impact.

The minister added that the government raised Rs 5,000 crore from the money market, outside its scheduled borrowing programme for the first half of the current financial year. This was done to take over the Reserve Bank’s 59.73 per cent stake in State Bank of India by the month-end.

“The government has raised additional money through bonds to finance the purchase of the RBI’s stake in the State Bank,” Chidambaram said.

The government had announced that it would buy the SBI’s stake at an estimated market value of Rs 40,000 crore to separate the ownership and regulatory functions of the central bank.

This process has to be completed by June 30, and the money is being raised this month to fund the buy.