Business | Economy
Finance minister Mukherjee to present Indian budget
India's finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the government's budget for the year ending March 31 in parliament in New Delhi on Monday.
- Agencies
- Published: 09:12 July 6, 2009
New Delhi: India's finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the government's budget for the year ending March 31 in parliament in New Delhi on Monday.
The first budget after the Congress party-led coalition's May election victory may include increased spending on roads and ports and the lowering of taxes to help Asia's third-biggest economy rebound from its slowest pace of growth since 2003.
The government may raise its annual bond-sale target by 10 percent to a record to fund a widening deficit, a Bloomberg News survey showed.
Borrowing in this fiscal year may increase to 4 trillion rupees from a previous estimate of 3.62 trillion rupees, according to the median forecast of 17 economists and investors.
The government will announce industrial production data for May on July 10. Output at factories, utilities and mines unexpectedly rose 1.4 percent in April from a year earlier, indicating interest-rate cuts and stimulus measures are helping resuscitate demand.
Infosys Technologies Ltd., the nation's second-largest software-services provider, will report earnings for the three months ended June 30 on July 10.
The company's net income in the quarter ended March 31 climbed to 16.1 billion rupees from 12.5 billion rupees a year earlier.
India's benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, or Sensex, rose for the second week in the five days to July 3 on optimism the government will increase spending and help accelerate growth. The gauge has rallied almost 55 percent this year as overseas investors bought $5.1 billion more Indian shares than they sold.
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