R.Kannan

India is in a best position to do very well in the world economy today. The growth momentum in the last two years need to be continued. This is the time Indian Industries and Services require the continued boost for development. There is a need to continue the stimulus in the budget this year and increase the planned and non planned expenditure by at least 15% this year. The schemes relating to Rural and Urban poor should be continued . A minimum GDP growth of 9% could be set as the minimum target for growth. To meet the increased expenditure, there will be a need to mobilize more resources. The borrowing by government could be kept at last years’ level and interest rate expectations on the borrowing should be kept at the present levels which would help to moderate the inflationary expectations. To bridge the funding gap, innovative methods for mobilizing funds from non conventional sources including Capitalisation of land bank ( which US government has identified as one of the sources of funding in this budget ), additional collection from Telecom operators and mining licenses. Sectors like Agriculture including milk production have become profitable now and there is a need to review the subsidy to this sector and target the subsidies. A specific fund could be created for removing the bottlenecks in Infrastructure sector to use the available capacities in a optimal manner. A specific fund could be created for developing an organisation, systems and procedures to remove the mismatch in Demand and Supply of Agricultural commodities. Commercial Banks could be allowed to raise Infrastructure bonds and interest from these bonds could be exempt from tax.