Pranab Mukherjee, the stand-in Prime Minister and Finance Minister of India, delivered the Interim Budget speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday 16.02.2009. Though, He did not announce any major sops for ailing industries or changes in tax structure and stuck to highlighting the achievements of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
The country’s stock markets too took a nosedive during Mukherjee’s speech continued — both the Nifty and Sensex were deeply in the red. The markets may have reacted on Pranab Mukherjee’s comment that a fresh fiscal stimulus measure may be required during the next full Budget in mid year — the statement dashed all market hopes of any fiscal measure in this Interim Budget. “The plan expenditure for FY09-10 may have to be increased substantially if there is need of additional stimulus,” Mukherjee said.Mukherjee started off the speech by pointing out that the UPA government had succeeded in implementing the promises outlined in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).
“Achieving 7% growth rate on a sustained basis was one of the targets of the UPA,” Mukherjee said. “And the country clocked above 9% growth rate for three consecutive years — FY06, FY07 and FY08.”Mukherjee highlighted that the per capita income during the UPA regime grew 7.4%.
The gross domestic savings rate, the finance minister said, stands at 37.7% and the gross capital formation stands at 14.2%. The domestic investment rate was over 39% in FY08, he added.Mukherjee added that the tax-GDP ratio was at 12.5% in 2007-08 and is close to the fiscal correction target. “Agriculture, services, manufacturing, construction are the growth driving sectors,” he said.
There are challenges ahead relating to capital inflows and global inflation,” Mukherjee said. “We have weathered the crisis but there is no room for complacency.”“We have taken steps to encourage private investments in infrastructure via the public-private partnership (PPP) route,” Mukherjee said, adding that the government approved 37 infrastructure projects worth Rs 70,000 crore between August 2008 and January 2009.
MAIN HIGHLIGHTS OF INTERIM BUDGET 2009-2010
Rs 11,842 cr allocated to Jawahar Nehru Urban Renewal Mission
Food, fertiliser, petroleum subsidies to go up
Allocation of Rs 14,1703 cr for defence sector
Rs 4,900 cr allocated to Bharat Nirman Scheme
Rs 8,300 cr for mid-day meal scheme
Rs 1,200 crore for Total Sanitation Programme
Rs 6705 cr allocated for child development schemes
Tax collections in 2008-09 to exceed that of 2007-08
FY09 fiscal deficit seen at 6% of GDP vs 2.5 %
Tax collections down by Rs 60,000 crore over estimates
Plan expenditure revised to 3 lakh crore
Revenue deficit revisied at 4.4% of GDP
Custom duties rates steadily reduced in UPA rule
Tax collection to increase in 2008-09
Govt expenditure estimate revised to over 9 lakh crores
Pranab Mukherjee resumes Interim Budget speech
Kerala MP falls ill; session adjourned for 10 minutes
Part of NIF proceeds also to be used for capital investment
PSU turnover up 84%
Centre has pumped in Rs 652 cr into Regional Rural Banks
Personal Income tax structure has been rationalised
Tax rates must fall during the time of crisis
Turnover of PSUs rose by 84% in 2003-08
Young widows to get priority in ITI admissions
The RIDA corpus was hiked from Rs 5,500 to Rs 14,000 cr
Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme for widows
Govt to provide subsidy to farmers in 2009-10
Six new IITs started in 2008-09
Educational loan schemes revised
2 new IITs in MP and Rajasthan in 2009-10
Rs 65,300 crore in loans loans waived off for farmers
Industrial production fell by 2 pct in 2008 on a YoY basis
Govt took prompt stimulus packages to curb slowdown
Allocation to agriculture increased by 300%
Outlay for higher education increased 900 per cent
Govt took prompt stimulus packages to curb slowdown
Govt approved 37 infrastructure projects
Tax to GDP ration risen by 12.5%
60.12 lakh houses built under Indira Awaas Yojna
Highest priority to rural development
Per Capita income grew by 7.4% in UPA regimen
Agri revival package implemented in 25 states
Employment generation schemes to be expanded
Economic growth has to be sustainable and inclusive
Manufacturing and agriculture sector are the growth drivers
FRPM targets being relaxed
Export growth for the first 9 months of the current year down to 17.1%
Export growth slowed down to 17.1% for the last 9 months
Export growth at 26.4% annually in the last 4 years
Government has approved 37 new infrastructure projects
Serious chocking of credit due to global downturn
Export growth at 26.4% annually in the last 4 years
India second fastest growing economy at 7.1% growth
Agriculture annual growth rate 3.7%
Savings rate up to 30.7% in 2008
Farmers real heroes of our success story
Investment rate has grown to 39%
Fiscal deficit down by 2.7%
Focus to maintain growth rate of 7-8%
