Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Union Budget 2011 to bring in food bill for poor

Union Budget 2011 to bring in food bill for poor

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Feb 28, 2011   modified Modified on Feb 28, 2011
India's finance minister announced on Monday a food security bill for 2011/12, a measure that would provide cheap grains for millions of India's poor but which has sparked worries of a huge fiscal cost.

It was one of the first signs of populism in the annual budget as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confronted high prices and corruption scandals as well as elections in five states this year.

In his ongoing budget speech, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee dismissed fears of policy drift and announced incentives for private investment in infrastructure as well as moves to help agricultural productivity to sustain economic growth and lower inflation.

The minister raised the foreign investment limit in corporate infrastucture bonds by $20 billion. Mukherjee also said infrastructure debt funds would be created.

"Certain events in the past few months may have created an impression of drift in governance and a gap in public accountability," Mukherjee told parliament in what is widely expected to be a populist budget. "Such an impression is misplaced."

In a pilot move, the minister said some subsidies for food and fuel would be directly given as cash to customers starting in March, a move aimed at making the subsidies system more efficient with less waste.

Analysts say it was unlikely that the government will unveil any politically-sensitive reforms in the budget for the fiscal year starting in April.

The government is expected to count on a robust economy to expand revenue in the absence of big one-time gains that it enjoyed in the current year from the sale of 3G telecom licences. Mukherjee said he expected the economy to grow 9 percent in 2011/2012 and for inflation to ease. It is also expected to withdraw more of the stimulus that helped India weather the global economic downturn.

Asia's third-largest economy is on track to grow at 8.6 percent in the current fiscal year that ends in March. A new government survey has forecast economic growth of about 9 percent for the next fiscal year.

India's economy grew a slower-than-expected 8.2 percent in the October to December quarter from a year earlier, government data on Monday showed. The median forecast in a Reuters' poll was an annual rise of 8.6 percent. Reform measures, such as liberalising foreign investment in multi-brand retail and setting out a definitive roadmap for a nationwide goods and services tax, may need to wait for a more receptive political climate.

The move on corporate bonds helped the India rupee strengthen to 45.21 per dollar from 45.25 per dollar. India's main stock index extended gains to more than 1 percent during the start of his speech. The moves to bolster development of India's infrastructure were expected. Inadequate power, roads and other infrastructure act as bottlenecks to growth and push up costs.

DEFICITS AND SUBSIDIES

On Friday, a government survey forecast a fiscal deficit for the current fiscal year of 4.8 percent of GDP, far better than the 5.5 percent target, thanks to $23 billion in telecom licence revenue and a surge in growth that boosted tax receipts and enabled higher-than-budgeted spending.

The survey forecast a fiscal deficit of 4.8 percent for the next fiscal year. Some economists say the figure is optimistic given the absence of one-time gains from the telecom licence sales and the prospect that India's subsidy burden could swell if oil prices stay above $100 per barrel and New Delhi continues to subsidise diesel and cooking fuels.

The Economic Times, 28 February, 2011, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/union-budget-2011-to-bring-in-food-bill-for-poor/articleshow/7593428.cms


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close