Pranab Mukherjee starts Budget speech, India waits in hope

New Delhi: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee began his budget speech, his seventh, in the Lok Sabha on Friday even as another political crisis threatens the survival of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government. Budget 2012-13 is being presented against the backdrop of slowing growth and burgeoning fiscal deficit even though the Economic Survey presented on Thursday claims that the Indian economy was finally beginning to show signs of registering a higher growth rate.
The Prime Minister's Office tweeted: "The Budget for 2012-13 has been formulated against the background of railways' responsibilities in meeting the demands of the 12th Plan."
The government will have to do a balancing act, by raising taxes and at the same time giving incentives to boost investor confidence. A balancing act is needed in a bid to spur growth.

There are indirect taxes that pinch the common man. It remains to be seen whether the Finance Minister will change the income tax slabs and change the saving exemption limit. Sources say the tax exemption limit is likely to be raised.
Economic growth has slowed down and so it will be a tough task for the Finance Minister.
A big question is whether Pranab will go for big ticket reforms or will political compulsions force him to go for a diluted budget.
The markets are expecting the Finance Minister to go for fiscal consolidation. There is a need to bring fiscal deficit under control. A cut in wasteful expenditure is also required.
The markets also want deregulation of diesel prices. A hike in petrol prices may also be on the cards.
The Finance Minister is expected to push for reforms and infrastructure bottlenecks also need to addressed.
Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu, who presented the Economic Survey on Thursday, said the Indian economy has some fundamental strength, but a few reforms are really needed.
Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has had to face flak from his own party after he announced a hike in passenger fares while presenting the Rail Budget 2012 and Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked Prime Minister to sack him from the Union Cabinet and roll back the increase.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/fm-starts-budget-speech-india-waits-in-hope/239717-7-172.html

 

Direct subsidy to farmers.. yipeeeeeeeeeee

 

Sops for newbie investors to encourage growth of equity culture

Efforts on for consensus with states on FDI in multi-brand retail:YUNO:

 

Qualified foreign investors to enter bond markets.
Simplifying process of IPOs; providing wider shareholder opportunities through electronic voting

Pranab sets a target of Rs 30,000 crore to be raised from the disinvestment of PSUs

Current account deficit 3.6% in 2011-12; this put pressure on exchange rate

 

TAX free infra bonds raised again..

Use this to get tax benefits..

 

$ 1 billion working capital package for aviation sector

 

During 12th five-year plan, investment in infrastructure to be Rs 50 lakh crore..

 

Target for agriculture credit increased to Rs 5,75,000 crore