The Indian government will meet the fiscal deficit target during the current fiscal and not exceed its borrowing limit, top finance ministry officials said on Saturday.
"We are on the fiscal consolidation path, we do not want to occupy more space in public borrowings. We will stick to our fiscal and revenue deficit target," finance secretary Sushma Nath said at the CII national conference and annual session in New Delhi.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his budget speech, had said that he plans to restrict fiscal deficit at 4.6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2011-12. During the year, the government plans to borrow Rs 4.17 trillion, of which 60% will be raised in the April-September period.
"The net borrowings will be as flat as last year, which frees up enough resources for the private sector," R Gopalan, secretary, department of economic affairs, said during his address at the conclave.
The finance secretary also said she was confident of containing the growing subsidy bill which has been pegged at Rs 1.44 trillion, of which petroleum and fertiliser subsidy is about Rs 736.4 billion, while expenses on account of subsidised food distribution are expected to be Rs 605.7 billion.
"On the subsidy front, yes there are some issues, but with the new scheme of targeting subsidies better, we are confident of containing our subsidies also," Nath said.
{{/usCountry}}"On the subsidy front, yes there are some issues, but with the new scheme of targeting subsidies better, we are confident of containing our subsidies also," Nath said.
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