Government set to spend more to boost economic growth: Mukherjee

September 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee n Tuesday said that India should consider nuclear energy as a ource to overcome power shortage and fuel economic growth. Mukherjee said this while addressing an international conference n 'Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy' in the national capital.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday said high borrowings of the government and large fiscal deficit were inevitable in the national budget given the need to push economic growth and allocate more funds for welfare programmes. "I had to take this risk.

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 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Presenting the General Budget 2009-10 in Lok Sabha today, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that the Government has clearly recognized and identified the challenges to boost Indian economy specially at a time when the world is still struggling with an unprecedented financial crisis and an economic slowdown. Elaborating on challenges, the Minister pointed out that the first challenge is to lead the economy back to the high GDP growth rate of nine percent per annum at the earliest.

June 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today appealed to find ways to bring the economy on the higher growth path without increasing fiscal deficit. Addressing a conference of state finance ministers as part of a pre-budget here, Mukherjee said the Central Government would focus on infrastructure, agriculture and employment generating sectors to promote growth and protect jobs.

June 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday asked banks to cut interest rates and provide affordable credit to industry to spur economic activity. Addressing chief executives of public sector banks here, Mukherjee said, "As a financial intermediary the banks have to stand by to provide credit at reasonable rates." "The reduction in key rates by the Reserve Bank is not adequately reflected in the reduction of Benchmark Prime Lending Rates (BPLR) of banks," he added.

June 10th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday surged by nearly 340 points to close at a 10-month high, on aggressive buying by funds on expectations that the government will increase public spending in the budget to boost economic growth. Sensex gained 339.81 points, or 2.25%, to settle at 15,466.81 points, a level last seen around mid-August 2008.

June 10th, 2009 MUMBAI - The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex surged over 434 points to 15,561.11 at mid-session on Wednesday an almost one-year high, on aggressive buying by funds on expectations that the government will increase public spending in the budget to boost economic growth. There are reasons to believe that the recent strong rally might continue.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will begin pre-budget consultations with different groups from today. Mukherjee will hold consultations with trade and industry bodies like the FICCI, the CII, the ASSOCHAM and the FIEO, economists, agriculturists, bankers and corporate honchos ahead of the presentation of the budget for 2009-10 in the first week of July.

May 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will begin pre-budget consultations with different groups from Monday. Mukherjee will hold consultations with trade and industry bodies like the FICCI, the CII, the ASSOCHAM and the FIEO, economists, agriculturists, bankers and corporate honchos ahead of the presentation of the budget for 2009-10 in the first week of July.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said reviving India's economic growth will be his top priority in the coming months and assured every step to complete the budget process for this fiscal by July 31. "All my senior colleagues in the ministry are fully cooperating with me to fulfil my commitment.

May 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Promising enhanced spending on infrastructure projects, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday said all such ongoing projects will be revisited, and recalibrated when required, to achieve the desired results. "My government will have to focus on implementing and strengthening the infrastructure investments," the finance minister said in his maiden press conference after taking oath as senior-most minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet last week.

February 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government is open to a fresh economic package if it was required to cope with the global financial crisis, acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday, but cautioned against pressing the panic button as the full impact of the meltdown on India was yet to be gauged. 'After consulting the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), I am not making any commitment, if the situation requires, we may be in a position to do more,' Mukherjee said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.

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.