Global News Post: General Budget 2013-14

INDIA: PM’s Post-Budget Interaction with Doordarshan News

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Q. Mr. Prime Minister, what are your first thoughts on the
budget?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PM: Given the challenges facing our economy, the Finance
Minister has done a commendable job. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> needs to create jobs for our
growing labour force to the extent of about 10 million persons every year. To
do that, we need to accelerate the tempo of our growth. We need, as the 12th
Five Year Plan has mentioned eloquently, a growth rate of about 8 percent. This
is a growth rate which is consistent with our underlying potential. We have to
get there. Although this is a difficult journey - it cannot be accomplished in
a single year - but the Finance Minister, has taken important steps to reverse
the pessimistic view with regard to investment climate, with regard to the
growth potential and possibilities of our economy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Q. What reforms are you looking at in the six months ahead?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PM: Well. The Finance Minister has laid out a roadmap. There is
plenty of food for every Ministry to chew upon. And each one of our Ministries
has to ask itself this question: If <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> needs an 8 percent growth
rate, growth which is at the same time inclusive and sustainable, what is it
that each Ministry should do? The Finance Minister has, I think, mentioned
these challenges. It is up to the collective wisdom of my Council of Ministers
to convert these challenges into opportunities to accelerate the tempo of
growth, to make it more inclusive, to make it more sustainable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Q. Will your Government get adequate support in Parliament?
There seems to be a perceptible change in the attitude of the Opposition. But
is the bureaucracy on board? Are projects being cleared?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PM: There have been problems with regard to clearances, with
regard to environmental clearances, with regard to forest clearances, land
acquisition problems, many of these areas are the responsibility of the state
government. Whatever is within the realm of possibilities of the central
government’s action points, we have committed ourselves that we will use the
mechanism of the Cabinet Committee on Investment to grapple with these tensions
which exist in our system, and to ensure that roadblocks, whether they are
environmental clearance roadblocks, or forest clearances, or other roadblocks,
they are dealt with, so that they can be cleared and removed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Q. You are confident that a positive climate is there for
projects to be cleared?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PM: Well. I think he is speaking on behalf of the Cabinet. And
I am pretty certain that the mood of the country is: this country must not lose
any time. It must get its act together to accelerate the tempo of economic
growth, sustainable growth, equitable growth, and I do believe that if the
general mood of the country is right, it will infect the bureaucracy, it will
infect the Opposition, and in this task, there are no winners or no losers. If <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> succeeds in sticking to a growth path of 8
percent or more, I think the winners will be the people of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>; winners
will be our young men and young women, who desperately need new productive job
opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Q. How worried are you about structural deficiencies that have
crept into the economy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PM: There are today, three types of barriers, which can affect
the realization of the growth potential. One is the fiscal deficit. The Finance
Minister has charted a path to bring the fiscal deficit under control, and if
we succeed in that quest, I think we would have created a better climate for
investment; we would have created a better climate also for more moderate
levels of inflation than we have had in the last two years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The second problem is that inflation has gone out of hand.
Therefore, if the fiscal deficit is brought under control, it will also enable
us to moderate the pace of inflation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The third is, the Current Account Deficit. We cannot reduce the
current account deficit in one go. As the Finance Minister mentioned, we have a
Current Account Deficit of about 75 billion dollars. In the short run, it has
to be financed. In the medium run, it must be reduced. We must reduce our
dependence on imports of oil, of coal, of gold, of petroleum products. This is
a medium term objective, and it can be achieved, partly by reducing unwanted
imports, partly by boosting the country’s export effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">So a multi-pronged strategy has to be in place to achieve
credible answers to all these three problems – tackling the fiscal deficit,
tackling the inflation problem, tackling the Current Account Deficit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Q. What is a safe Current Account Deficit for us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PM: In my view – 2.5 to 3 percent of GDP is a safe level of
Current Account Deficit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Q. What do you see as the GDP growth in the coming fiscal?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">PM: The Finance Minister has mentioned, and yesterday’s
Economic Survey also hints, that it is realistic to assume a growth rate of
about 6.2 to 6.7%, and that in three years time, if we work hard, if the world
economy also improves, we should get back to the 8 percent growth path – in two
to three years time.--PIB<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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INDIA: PM’s Post-Budget Interaction with Doordarshan News

Q. Mr. Prime Minister, what are your first thoughts on the budget? PM: Given the challenges facing our economy, the Finance Minis...

India Growth Plan: Trim Fiscal Deficit, Woo Foreign Investors

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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By Anjana Pasricha<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">India’s finance minister is pledging to revive economic growth
by trimming the country’s fiscal deficit. He also says India is in critical
need of foreign investment to reverse the worst slowdown in a decade for Asia’s
third largest economy.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Speaking to parliament during the presentation of the country's
annual budget, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram vowed to cut India’s fiscal
deficit to 4.8 per cent in the next fiscal year.  He said the country needs to make tough
spending decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I have no choice but to rationalize expenditure. We took
a dose of bitter medicine. It seems to be working," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">India’s fiscal and current deficits have raised concern of a
downgrade by rating agencies.   <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">However, government spending will rise by about 16 per cent in
the next year. To meet those expenses, the Finance Minister announced a
temporary tax on the super rich - those with an annual income of about $200,000
- and on local companies with an income of over $2 million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Minister Chidambaram acknowledged that the Indian economy,
which has slowed to a decade-low of about five percent, is in a trough. He says
restoring high growth is a challenge, but that he is optimistic about the
future.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"There is no reason for gloom or pessimism," he said.
"Even now, of the large countries of the world, only China and Indonesia
are growing faster than India in 2012-13. And in 2013-14, if we grow at the
rate projected by many forecasters, only China will grow faster than India.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The government estimates that India’s economy will grow by over
six percent in the next fiscal year, after slipping to five percent in the last
year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Chidambaram focused on winning back foreign investors assuring
them that India will be business friendly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He pointed out that India needs $75 billion to finance its
current account deficit, or trade imbalance, which has grown rapidly due to
massive imports of oil, gold and coal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I have been at pains to state over and over again that
India does not have the choice between welcoming and spurning foreign
investment. Foreign investment is an imperative," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Foreign investment fell last year as investors were alienated
by a series of unexpected tax proposals, by corruption scandals and India’s
tough regulatory regime. Opposition parties have also opposed the government’s
decision to open the retail sector to foreign supermarkets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed hope that the measures
announced will revive the economy and that India will return to growth levels
of about eight percent in two to three years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Forecasters say returning India to those levels of growth will
depend on the government’s willingness to reduce spending, initiate reforms and
control inflation. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mali Conflict Disrupts Schooling for 700,000 Children<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By Kim Lewis<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On-going fighting has disrupted education for hundreds of
thousands of school children in both the north and south of Mali. UNICEF as
well as educational authorities there report that some 700,000 children are
affected, with 200,000 of those left with no access to school at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">UNICEF says schools in the north have been closed and looted,
and many teachers have failed to return. 
In the south, schools have become so overcrowded teachers are not able
to handle the influx of displaced students from the north. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“At this point there have been more than 115 schools that have
been closed or destroyed or looted.  One
of the other problems that we are facing is that many teachers are still scared
to go back to the northern part of the country. 
And in the southern part, we have already overcrowded schools that have
to cope with the influx of displaced students from the north,” explained
Laurent Duvillier, UNICEF spokesperson for west and central Africa.  He added this is an extra burden on the
teachers and infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He explained that in the north only one out of three schools is
functioning, and in Kidal, all schools are closed.  “That means that a child in Kidal at this
stage has no opportunity to get access to education. So that’s extremely
concerning, “ said Duvillier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He said his organization is working to provide educational
materials to school children and teachers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“UNICEF is moving forward first with the distribution of school
kits and teaching materials to the teachers and the schools in the southern
part of the country, closer to the northern part of the country,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Duvillier also said they have access to Mopti in the central
part of the country.  <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“So the teachers and the school kids have arrived in Mopti, and
we’ll soon be distributing in the northern part of the country, together with
our partners and local NGO’s,” explained Duvillier.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For those schools that have been destroyed or looted, central
learning spaces are being set up under tents where children can learn and play
in a safe environment. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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India Growth Plan: Trim Fiscal Deficit, Woo Foreign Investors

By Anjana Pasricha India’s finance minister is pledging to revive economic growth by trimming the country’s fiscal deficit. He also...

India Unveils Annual Budget

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram arrives at<br /> Parliament House along with the Ministers of State for Finance, <br />Namo Narain Meena and S.S. Palanimanickam to present the <br />General Budget 2013-14, in <st1:place w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:place> on <br />February 28, 2013. Photo © PIB</i></span></td></tr>
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 <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">NEW DELHI, India   (NNN-Xinhua) -- India's ruling Congress-led
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government Thursday unveiled its budget for
the fiscal 2013 to 2014, outlining the spending for one of the fastest growing
economies in the world.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented in Parliament
the annual budget, saying that the country has been facing a number of
challenges to return to its potential growth rate of 8 percent at a time when
"there is a slow growth rate worldwide".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Though the finance minister did not tinker with the income tax
slabs for the middle-class, he outlined plans to tax the "super-
rich" and the corporate sector in his budget amid rising pressure to
reduce the fiscal deficit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Chidambaram also focused on rural <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> while presenting his budget
by hiking outlays for health, water and sanitation, tribals and rural
development, keeping in view the general elections slated for next year. He
also announced a new bank only for women, the first of its kind in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The finance minister announced a 16 percent rise in public
spending, saying he has "retrieved some economic space" thanks to
recent austerity measures, including slashing subsidies. He also said that the
government intended to cut <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
public deficit to 4.6 percent of the GDP.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Restoring <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
potential growth remains a challenge but there is no room for gloom and
pessimism. Only <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Indonesia</st1:country-region> are growing faster than <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> and achieving high growth is not beyond <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
capacity. We have done it and we will do it again," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The minister added: "<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> at the present juncture does
not have the choice of welcoming and spurning foreign investment. We need to
welcome foreign investment."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Experts say that this is the UPA's last budget before the
general elections and the government tried to balance it by making it a
"populist" as well as a "pragmatic" one. --NNN-XINHUA</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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India Unveils Annual Budget

The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram arrives at Parliament House along with the Ministers of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meen...