Budget 2013
A rather ambitious budget
The budget has remained subtly faithful to the UPA's electoral plank of welfare-based spending and also adopting an aggressive growth posture. Chidambaram deserves credit for meeting the 5.2 percent 2012/13 fiscal deficit, albeit in an unplanned manner, writes Rajan Ghotgalkar. Full Article
Much good cholesterol in India's spending plan
The increase in public spending is largely because of a 37 percent jump in public investments. This is the good cholesterol that the rapidly slowing Indian economy needs to avoid a seizure. Investors should focus instead on the government's consumption spending - the bad cholesterol, writes Andy Mukherjee. Full Article
FM tries to ease concerns over tax proposal
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram sought to ease concerns the government was targeting double taxation treaties, saying a proposal that sparked alarm among foreign investors was clumsily worded. "It has not become law yet. It's a bill. When I read that clause again, I said it is clumsily worded," he said. Full Article
Chidambaram increases spending, taxes rich
The finance minister unveils a surge in spending, despite expectations of an austerity budget to shore up the government's finances, imposing new taxes on the rich and large companies to fund a dash for growth ahead of an election due by next year. Full Article
Budget poses fertiliser spending crunch
After effectively halving its subsidy on fertilisers for 2013/14 in the budget, India will have to allow producers to take the politically sensitive step of hiking urea prices to farmers or provide additional funding, industry officials say. If the government fails to provide the funds, companies would stop production and that could trigger a shortage of fertiliser. Full Article
'Borrowing target not cause for disappointment'
StanChart says debt investors "need not be disappointed" with the India's 2013/14 gross borrowing target of 6.29 trillion rupees, which had sent bonds to their worst day in seven months in the previous session. "We believe such a large cash surplus has the potential to surprise the markets positively," StanChart says. Full Article
Gender budget is tokenism: women's groups
The government plans to set up a bank for women and a fund to implement projects to ensure their safety in the budget were slammed by some women's groups, who called the measures populist and mere token gestures ahead of elections. Full Article
Winners and losers from India's budget
India unveiled new taxes on the rich and large companies on Thursday to fund higher-than-expected spending for the next fiscal year, in a budget that aimed to revive growth amid the country's worst slowdown in a decade ahead of a 2014 election. Here is a list of sectors/companies that will benefit or be impacted by the budget proposals: Full Article
The Great Debate
India shows U.S. path to patent standards
Headlines have been trumpeting the Indian Supreme Court’s decision to deny a new patent for the cancer drug Gleevec as an attack on intellectual property rights and a win for patients in need of cheap drugs. Those headlines are misleading. What the ruling actually demonstrates is that India has set a high bar for determining what is “innovative.” The United States could learn a thing or two from India Commentary
Union Budget 2013
Political strategy, not economic blueprint
With the dust settling after Budget, the picture is getting a bit clearer. Opinions have ranged from praise to outright criticism. The true position lies somewhere in between. Most agree there is considerable misalignment between diagnosis and prescriptions in the budget. Here's more about the three biggest problems identified by P. Chidambaram. Full Article
A high-calorie budget
The government believes in the ‘eat more, burn more’ philosophy in managing its finances. Budget takes that idea further with an even stronger projected rise in spending. If the increased spending is aimed at productive use, it may still end up doing some good. But the track record does not inspire confidence. I hope that after talking the talk, the FM will not lose his nerve. Full Article
ANALYSING THE BUDGET
Budget 2013: A rather ambitious budget
The budget has remained subtly faithful to the UPA's electoral plank of welfare-based spending and also adopting an aggressive growth posture. The markets suffered from their habitual over-expectation and corrected. Chidambaram deserves credit for meeting the 5.2 percent 2012/13 fiscal deficit, albeit in an unplanned manner. Whatever else it proves, it surely indicates his resolve to address the challenge. Article
Budget 2013: Visible impetus on growth
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the annual budget at a time when India’s economy is going through a challenging period. India faces the four-pronged problem of high fiscal deficit, an unacceptably high current account deficit, declining growth and lower savings. Full Article
Budget 2013 not a death knell for reforms
What we found interesting is that the planned portion of the budget, which includes schemes for rural areas and construction, is programmed to rise by about 29 percent, whereas the relatively large non-planned portion should rise by a mere 11 percent. The latter includes expenditure on government operations that hardly help stimulate growth. Full Article
A missed opportunity
Industry leaders have hailed Budget 2013 saying that this is the best P. Chidambaram could have done under the circumstances. Opposition leaders have slammed the budget. Each had their own compulsions but I feel the truth lies somewhere in between. It was no doubt a very fine tightrope walk but I would give the FM full points for not yielding to temptation and taking populist measures ahead of elections. Full Article | Full Coverage
Budget 2013: A run-of-the-mill affair
After the sustained hype of a game changer budget, Budget 2013 was a totally run-of-the-mill affair with no announcements of any kind of deregulatory or growth propelling initiatives, writes Andrew Freris, Chief Investment Advisor, Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management. Full Article | Full Coverage
Risk factors in Budget 2013
P. Chidambaram has apparently done the impossible. He has brought down the fiscal deficit in the current year from the budgeted 5.3 percent to 5.2 percent in spite of the fall in revenues. What’s more, the deficit was further slashed to 4.8 percent in the 2013/14 budget. Is that realistic? On the face of it, the budget looks quite elegant. But it is subject to implicit political and economic risks. Full Article
REUTERS SHOWCASE
Economic Survey
Economic Survey: Government likely to meet fiscal deficit target of 5.3 percent Full Article
Budget & Personal Finance
Rich taxpayers to pay 10% surcharge
P. Chidambaram introduced a surcharge of 10 percent for one year on taxpayers with an annual taxable income of more than 1 crore (10 million) rupees, in a bid to raise more revenues for the budget on Thursday. Full Article
Commodities
Gold import duty kept steady for now
India held its gold import duty unchanged in Thursday's budget, defying industry expectations that the world's biggest bullion buyer would increase rates to curb demand and rein in a record current account deficit. Full Article
PICTURE GALLERY
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Budget 2013
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presents one of the most highly anticipated budgets of recent years. Slideshow
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