Today the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the interim budget for the fiscal year 2014/15 to cover expenditure until the government`s term ends in May.The highlights of the budget are as under:
Fiscal Deficit
* Fiscal deficit projected at 4.1 percent of GDP in 2014/15
* Fiscal deficit seen at 4.6 percent of GDP in 2013/14
* Says need to bring down fiscal deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2016/17
Current Account Deficit
* Current account deficit for 2013/14 projected at $45 billion
* Forex reserves to rise by $15 billion by end of 2013/14
Borrowing
* Gross market borrowing seen at 5.97 trillion rupees in 2014/15
* Net market borrowing at 4.07 trillion rupees
* Debt repayment in 2014/15 seen at 1.897 trillion rupees
SPENDING
* Plan expenditure for 2014/15 seen at same level as previous year
* Non plan spending estimated at about 12.08 trillion rupees in 2014/15
Subsidies
* Total spending on food, fertilisers and fuel at 2.5 trillion rupees in 2014/15
Defense
* Spending raised to 2.24 trillion rupees in 2014/15, up 10 percent year on year
Exports
* Merchandise exports seen at $326 billion in 2013/14, up 6.3 percent year on year.
* Agriculture exports expected to touch $45 billion in 2013/14, up from $41 billion in 2012/13
Tax Proposals
* No major change in tax rates
* Factory gate tax to be reduced to 10 percent from 12 percent on some capital goods, consumer durables
* Cut excise duty on small cars, two wheelers, commercial vehicles to 8 percent from 12 percent
* Recommends excise duty reductions on larger vehicles
* Restructure of factory gate tax rates for manufacturing of mobile handsets
Banks Restructuring
* Govt to provide 112 billion rupees capital infusion in state run banks in 2014/15
* Propose to set up public debt management office to start5 work from 2014/15
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