Government aiming to bring fiscal deficit down to 4 percent

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.

August 24th, 2009 Indo-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI - India's fiscal deficit this year will not exceed 6.8 percent, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here Monday. "Deficit will not be more than 6.8 percent in the current fiscal,” Ahluwalia told reporters here.

July 21st, 2009 Guthrie ends fiscal year with slight deficitMINNEAPOLIS — The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is reporting its first deficit in 14 years as the recession took its toll on the box office, fundraising and endowments. The Guthrie had an operating deficit of $67,000 for the fiscal year that ended March 31.

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 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.

July 6th, 2009 To spur growth, India sees budget deficit growingMUMBAI, India — Aiming to revive economic growth, India's government said Monday increased spending in its new budget would inflate the fiscal deficit to 6.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product. Stocks plunged on concerns about a ballooning budget deficit and disappoinment that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stopped short of annoucing any new liberalization measures.

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 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's merchandise exports continued to suffer a setback this fiscal to register a decline for the second straight month with the value of shipments 29.2 percent lower at $11.01 billion in May over the same month of last fiscal. Merchandise exports had dipped 33.2 percent to $10.74 billion in April, while in May last year, they were valued at $15.55 billion, as per latest data on foreign trade released here Wednesday by the commerce and industry ministry.

June 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government can raise about Rs.80,000 crore ($16.6 billion) by divesting stake in public sector units, says an industry lobby report. "Dilution of stake in leading public sector units alone could fetch at least Rs.80,000 crore," the report by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said, adding that this amount could be used to bring down the fiscal deficit burden.

April 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India is in a better situation than any other country in the world when it comes to fiscal deficits and beating the slowdown, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said here Wednesday. Speaking at a CNBC seminar on Impact of Polls on Markets, Sibal said: 'I feel that we are in much better situation compared to other countries.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's large fiscal deficit could pose problems for the banking sector, said economic analysis provider Moody's Economy.com Tuesday. 'A large fiscal deficit could pose problems for the banking sector, with a wide funding gap forcing the government to issue large amounts of debt, pushing up India's risk-free interest rate and depressing the price of government bonds, large volumes of which are held by banks,' according to Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya, associate economist at Moody's Economy.com.

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 - 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.

January 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The borrowing limit of state governments will be increased and their fiscal deficit targets relaxed to allow them raise funds for capital expenditure for 2008-09, the government said Thursday. The cabinet committee on economic affairs, which met Wednesday evening, decided to allow states to borrow up to 3 percent of their respective gross state domestic product (GSDP) with an additional borrowing limit of 0.5 percent of their GSDP.