Fiscal deficit won’t exceed 6.8 percent, asserts Ahluwalia

October 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's economy will grow at 6.3 percent this fiscal as per prediction, while inflation would remain under 5 percent, according to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. "The GDP (gross domestic product) would be at 6.3 percent by the end of this fiscal, as predicted, but could be even better given the signs of economic recovery," Ahluwalia said here Monday.

September 23rd, 2009 KOLKATA - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said the government planned to scale down fiscal deficit to 4 percent by 2012. "We should try to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5 percent in 2011 and 4 percent by 2012," Mukherjee said in an address at the 155th annual general meeting of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Tuesday that country's economic growth in the coming two quarters will be lower than April-June. The economy grew 6.1 percent in the June quarter, roughly in line with forecasts, but a poor monsoon threatens to erode growth later in the year even as it drives prices higher.

August 31st, 2009 BANGALORE - Global recession and drought this fiscal will derail India's nine percent growth target for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12), says a top Planning Commission official. "We set a growth target of 9-10 percent for the 11th Plan.

August 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India managed a reasonable economic growth of 6.1 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal despite the global financial crisis impacting manufacturing and services sectors. Country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate during April-June 2009 at 6.1 percent was higher than 5.8 percent in the previous quarter.

July 30th, 2009 Russia to run 7.5 pct budget deficit next yearMOSCOW — Russia will next year run a budget deficit equivalent to 7.5 percent of annual economic output, the highest deficit the country can afford, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday. Russia is facing its biggest economic test in a decade and is this year running a budget deficit of 9.4 percent of gross domestic product — its first deficit in a decade.

July 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's corporate sector does not need any more stimulus packages, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here Tuesday. "The budget includes very significant boost in plan expenditure and investment.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government is determined to bring the fiscal deficit under control, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here Tuesday. Addressing economists at a seminar organised by the India Policy Forum, he said the fiscal stimulus provided by the government had put a burden on the deficit but the package was necessary in the given economic scenario.

June 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has the scope to raise funds by selling shares in state-run firms even as subsidies need to be recast to benefit the needy, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said Monday, taking over as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission for a second successive term. "There is scope to raise significant resources through selling government stakes in the state-run companies," Ahluwalia told reporters at his first press conference after he was named the deputy chief of the plan panel.

April 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India should have more fiscal stimulus measures to help the economy weather the global slowdown, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here Tuesday. 'We should have more fiscal stimulus measures.

March 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian economy will log a growth of less than 7 percent this fiscal with 2009 turning 'significantly worse' as the current economic crisis was unlikely to end soon, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said Friday. 'The world is going through the worst crisis in 60 years,' Ahluwalia told the national conference and annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the Taj Palace Hotel here.

February 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India’s consolidated fiscal deficit may increase to 10.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this fiscal and 10 percent the next year, according to an estimate by global investment bank Goldman Sachs. 'We do not think that the deficit will come down substantially over the next few years,' Tushar Poddar, economist with Goldman Sachs, said in a statement.

February 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India’s consolidated fiscal deficit may increase to 10.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) this fiscal and 10 percent the next year, according to an estimate by global investment bank Goldman Sachs. 'We do not think that the deficit will come down substantially over the next few years,' Tushar Poddar, economist with Goldman Sachs, said in a statement.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Reacting to criticisms over lack of measures in the interim budget presented Monday, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in an election year, an incumbent government had the mandate only to present a vote on account. 'I think this is a failure to understand the limitations of an interim budget,' Ahluwalia said, soon after industry and average citizens complained that the interim budget tabled in parliament by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had no specific measures on tax rates or to help cushion the impact of global slowdown.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Monday said high fiscal deficit was inevitable given the global economic scenario and increasing public expenditure. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his interim budget speech pegged the current fiscal's deficit at 6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), but hoped that it would come down to 5.5 percent in next financial year.