India's Prudent Budget - The country is aiming for growth with fiscal discipline.

India has weathered the slowdown and is back on track for growth, targeting double-digit GDP increases, according to Indian finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who presented the country's much-awaited federal budget for the fiscal year 2010-2011 in Parliament Friday.


The rebounding economy has set the stage for a calibrated withdrawal of the stimulus measures introduced when it was faltering. Signaling that putting the fiscal house in order is among the government's top priorities, Mukherjee said, "We need to review the stimulus and move back towards fiscal consolidation."

Spelling out the timeline and targets for the process, he said that the government is committed to reining in the country's ballooning fiscal deficit, which stands at an estimated 6.9% of GDP. It will be reduced to 5.5% in the next fiscal year, reaching a more prudent level of 4.1% of GDP by 2013.

"Nobody was expecting a big-bang budget," said Manisha Girotra, chief executive of UBS India. "Overall, it's a positive budget focused on growth with fiscal responsibility."

Added Fortis Healthcare Chief Executive Malvinder Singh: "It's the right approach. This budget addresses the three big items: growth, the fiscal deficit and social equity."

India's GDP growth, which had at one point fallen to 5.8% from an earlier high of 9%, is expected to climb to over 7% despite a monsoon that dampened agricultural output, sending food prices rocketing. But the economy was buoyed by exports, which started rising from November after declining for the previous year, as well as a surge in manufacturing, which jumped 18% in December.