Pranab: Budget after state polls

[1]

The Union Budget 2012-13 is likely to be presented in Parliament in the second week of March, after Assembly elections are over in five states.

The government feels the Budget should be tabled only after the state elections, which begin on January 28 and will continue till March 3. Counting of votes for all states will be on March 4.

“We have not yet decided the time for the Budget, but it will be after the elections,” Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated on Monday.

Sources here said the finance minister will shortly begin brainstorming sessions with stakeholders. The focus is likely to be on the agrarian sector, but a series of meetings will also be held with industry captains and economists to ascertain their views.

The sources said the government, which is under fire and being perceived as 'anti-middle class', will try to present a 'friendly Budget'. But a 'lot might depend on the election results', the sources pointed out.

The government is also likely to try and meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.6 per cent of GDP, which was set in 2011-12. But this might be difficult with tax collections falling and subsidies rising.

With tax collections falling and the subsidy bill rising, the government might have to seek 'other ways to increase revenue' in the forthcoming Union Budget 2012-13, sources told this newspaper particularly with the need to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.6 per cent of GDP set in during 2011-12.

This assumes importance as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has also targeted fiscal deficit to come down further to 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2013-14.

The government is likely to bring more services under the ambit of service tax to increase revenue. There are also questions raised on whether the government will be able to roll out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2012 as scheduled.

The parliamentary standing committee on GST, which is headed by former finance minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has not been able to complete discussions on the subject and is yet to table its report.