NEW DELHI : Finance Minister P Chidambaram today delivered on his promise of containing the fiscal deficit for the current year below the red line of 4.8 per cent of last year.
The Interim Budget for 2014-15, tabled in the Lok Sabha today puts the fiscal deficit at 4.6 per cent of the GDP. He said the Current Account Deficit has also been contained and 15 billion dollars would be added to the foreign exchange by end of the current financial year.
Mr Chidambaram also projected the GDP growth at 5.4 per cent. The Finance Minister said all this had been possible due to effective steps taken by the Government, the Reserve Bank of India and the SEBI.
He said despite global slowdown, India has been able to hold its head high.
Mr Chidambaram said the previous two financial years had been full of challenges due to recession in the US and the Eurozone, but Indian economy kept going despite downgrading by some international rating agencies.
Now domestic experts agree that the economy was in a stable state. “We will never do anything that will affect the economy of the country.
The Finance Minister said despite the volatile world financial condition, steps taken by the Government, the RBI and SEBI had resulted in minimum effect on the rupee.
He said the wholesale price index (WPI) had also been contained and it had come down to 5.05 per cent in the current financial year. The food inflation was also now down to 6 per cent.
Mr Chidambaram also expressed satisfaction over the agricultural production which had risen to 263 million tonnes from 255 million tonnes of last year. He said the implementation of infrastructure projects had been Expedited.
There was also no steep decline in investments, he added. (AGENCIES)
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