Highlights: 2012/13 Budget presented to parliament

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (2nd L) poses as he leaves his office to present the 2012/13 budget in New Delhi March 16, 2012.

REUTERS - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee played it safe in unveiling the federal budget on Friday, pledging reforms but setting only modest targets for trimming a ballooning fiscal deficit, disappointing investors and sending bond yields surging.

For a graph of the budget, click link.reuters.com/cyt96s

FISCAL DEFICIT

* Fiscal deficit seen at 5.9 percent of GDP in 2011-12

* Fiscal deficit seen at 5.1 percent of GDP in 2012-13

* Fiscal deficit seen at 4.5 percent of GDP in 2013-14

* Fiscal deficit seen at 3.9 percent of GDP in 2014-15

(Read main story: Budget aims to ease subsidy burden, click here)

BORROWING

* Gross market borrowing seen at 5.7 trillion rupees in 2012-13

* Net market borrowing seen at 4.8 trillion rupees in 2012-13, excluding treasury bills

(Know more about new tax slabs, click here)

SPENDING

* Total expenditure in 2012-13 seen at 14.9 trillion rupees, up 29 percent

* Plan expenditure budgeted at 521.25 billion rupees in 2012/13, up 18 percent

* Allocates 1.94 trillion rupees for defence in 2012/13, up 18 percent

(Expert views on Budget 2012, click here)

REVENUE AND TAXES

* Gross tax receipts seen at 10.8 trillion rupees in 2012-13

* Non-tax revenue seen at 1.64 trillion rupees in 2012-13

* Disinvestment target in 2012-13 of 300 billion rupees

* Proposes to levy tax on all services except 17 items in the negative list from 2012/13

* Proposes to raise service tax rate to 12 percent from 10 percent

* No change in corporate tax rates

* To enhance tax exemption limit to 200,000 rupees for individuals income in 2012/13

* Proposes to provide full exemption on import duty of thermal coal for power plants

* Proposes to double basic customs duty on gold

SUBSIDIES

* To keep 2012/13 subsidies under 2 percent of GDP, under 1.7 percent of GDP in the next 3 years

* Major subsidies bill estimated at 1.8 trillion rupees in 2012-13

* Food subsidy bill in 2012-13 seen at 750 billion rupees

* Fertilizer subsidy bill in 2012-13 seen at 609.7 billion rupees

* Petroleum subsidy bill in 2012-13 seen at 435.8 billion rupees

* Revised petroleum subsidy bill for 2011-12 at 684.8 billion rupees

* To inject 159 billion rupees to capitalize state-run banks in 2012/13

GROWTH AND INFLATION EXPECTATIONS

* Expect headline inflation to moderate in next few months and remain stable thereafter

* Economy expected to grow at 7.6 percent in 2012/13

* Economy expected to grow at 6.9 percent in 2011/12

* Signs of economy turning around in March quarter

POLICY REFORMS

* Allow external commercial borrowing of up to $1 bln to raise working capital for airlines industry for 1 year

* To allow qualified foreign investors in Indian corporate debt markets

* To allow external commercial borrowing to part finance rupee debt in power projects

* Proposes to remove sector-specific restriction on venture capital fund investments

* Hope to achieve "broad-based consensus" to open multi-brand retail sector to foreign investors

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

* To award contracts to build 8,800 km of roads in 2012/13

* Government doubles allocation for tax-free bonds to 600 billion rupees for financing infrastructure projects in 2012/13

AGRICULTURE

* Expects country to become self-sufficient in urea production in five years

* Proposes to raise agricultural credit target in 2012/13 to 5.75 trillion rupees

CURRENT ACCOUNT

* Current account deficit seen at 3.6 percent of GDP in 2011/12

* Expect smaller current account deficit in 2012/13

FINANCE MINISTER COMMENTS

"We have to accelerate the pace of reforms and improve supply side management of the economy."

"Economic policy, as medical treatment, often requires us to do something which in the short run may be painful but is good for us in the long run."

"As Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, said in Shakespeare's immortal words, 'I must be cruel only to be kind'."

(Compiled by Annie Banerji, Matthias Williams and Frank Jack Daniel)