ID :
45891
Mon, 02/16/2009 - 17:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/45891
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INDIA REVEALS US$196 billion MINI-BUDGET, RAISES DEFENCE SPENDING
NEW DELHI, Feb 16 (Bernama) -- To counter the global economic stress, India rolled out its pre-polls budget of US$196 billion Monday. India also raised its defence budget to improve national security.
Acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced an interim budget for
2009-10, before the nation goes for national elections in two months time.
In his speech to Parliament, Mukherjee said the global economic crisis was
bound to impact India but added that, Asia's third largest economy was poised
to grow at 7.1 percent this year.
"In these difficult times, when most economies are struggling to stay
afloat, a healthy 7.1 percent rate of gross domestic product growth still makes
India the second fastest growing economy in the world,"said Mukherjee, who is
also the External Affairs Minister.
For the defence sector, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government raised the budget by 35 percent to US$29 billion, to tighten national
security that has become more fragile of late.
"We are going through tough times. The Mumbai terror attacks have given an
entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism.
"A threshold has been crossed. Our security environment has deteriorated
considerably. In this context, I propose to increase the allocation for
defence," he added.
The budget also addressed employment in the agriculture sector by allocating
US$6.2 billion, to improve rural employment programmes, as 60 percent of the
Indian population still depend on farmlands.
But the government did not disturb any tax structure in this interim budget.
--BERNAMA
Acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced an interim budget for
2009-10, before the nation goes for national elections in two months time.
In his speech to Parliament, Mukherjee said the global economic crisis was
bound to impact India but added that, Asia's third largest economy was poised
to grow at 7.1 percent this year.
"In these difficult times, when most economies are struggling to stay
afloat, a healthy 7.1 percent rate of gross domestic product growth still makes
India the second fastest growing economy in the world,"said Mukherjee, who is
also the External Affairs Minister.
For the defence sector, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government raised the budget by 35 percent to US$29 billion, to tighten national
security that has become more fragile of late.
"We are going through tough times. The Mumbai terror attacks have given an
entirely new dimension to cross-border terrorism.
"A threshold has been crossed. Our security environment has deteriorated
considerably. In this context, I propose to increase the allocation for
defence," he added.
The budget also addressed employment in the agriculture sector by allocating
US$6.2 billion, to improve rural employment programmes, as 60 percent of the
Indian population still depend on farmlands.
But the government did not disturb any tax structure in this interim budget.
--BERNAMA
