Fiscal stimuli to continue till economy stabilises: Mukherjee

November 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The erratic monsoon during this year, followed by floods in some parts of the country, could have lowered India's foodgrain output by some 14-15 million tonnes, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Tuesday. "I'm waiting for a hard assessment of the sub-normal southwest monsoon and the impact of floods in some parts of the country," the finance minister said at the annual Economic Editors' Conference.

October 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday that the country's economy is responding well. Addressing the media here, Mukherjee said: "The economy, I would like to say is responding well, the policy statement which we have initiated, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Finance Ministry are working in close co-operation and this will continue for future." He noted that the economy was likely to expand in the range of 6.5 to 6.75 percent during the fiscal year ending March 2010.

October 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday ruled out any roll back of the stimulus package in a hurry and welcomed the stance taken by the central bank in its second quarterly review of the monetary policy. "Until the economy is on a firm recovery path, the stimulus will continue, Mukherje told reporters outside his North Block office here, giving his reactions to the monetary policy review.

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 23rd, 2009 KOLKATA - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said the country's economy would grow over 6 percent this fiscal and that the government planned to scale down fiscal deficit to 4 percent by 2012. "During the first quarter, the GDP (gross domestic product) grew by 6.1 percent and we expect it to grow a little better in the second quarter.

September 19th, 2009 BANGALORE - The stimulus package, introduced in the last fiscal to protect the Indian economy from the impact of the global financial crisis, would continue till the economies of Europe and US recover, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Saturday. "At the recently held G-20 countries' finance ministers' meet in London, we came to the conclusion that we should not reverse the stimulant package, which we have injected in the aftermath of international financial crisis, till the full recovery in Europe and North America is distinctly visible," Mukherjee told reporters at a news conference.

September 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a clear and firm message Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that ministers and bureaucrats who are entitled to travel on state expenses should undertake domestic travel in economy class. Mukherjee said that they could fly in business class for international travel.

September 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - G-20 countries have decided to continue with the stimulus packages till the global economy is fully revived, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday. The club of finance ministers of developed and developing nations also agreed to postpone the "exit strategy" till the full recovery of the world economy.

July 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Wednesday ruled out rollback of tax cuts offered to various sectors as part of the fiscal stimuli announced earlier and said it intends to bridge the fiscal deficit largely through internal resource mobilisation. "The economy is slowly reviving.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday said recovery of Indian economy in the current fiscal would be difficult unless there were visible improvements in the global economic scenario. Speaking to a television channel after presenting the union budget for 2009-10, Mukherjee said the economy would likely recover in the third quarter of 2009-10, but if the western economies did not improve, we will take a longer period.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said that the Government has taken several measures to counter the negative fall-out of the global slow down on the Indian economy. Presenting the budget for 2009-10, Mukherjee said: Firstly, the Government responded by providing three focused fiscal stimulus packages in the form of tax relief to boost demand and increased expenditure on public projects to create employment and public assets.

June 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government must aim for growth with fiscal prudence, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Thursday, even as he pushed for a pan-India goods and services tax from April next year. High levels of fiscal deficit are not sustainable in the medium to long term, both for the states and the centre, the finance minister told a pre-budget conference with finance ministers of states and union territories.

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 - External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee began presenting the interim budget for the next fiscal amid expectations that measures will be announced to cushion the impact of global meltdown on the Indian economy, and help revive consumer demand. The exercise began with Mukherjee reading out his budget speech in the Lok Sabha, during which he will also seek an approval to finance the government's expenditure, till such time the regular budget is presented by a new government after elections, and passed by parliament.

January 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian economy will grow at 7 percent in the current fiscal, External Affairs and stand-in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said here Thursday. 'Indian economy will bounce back as the fundamentals of the economy are strong,' Mukherjee told reporters after meeting officials of the finance ministry.