Budget 2013 Expectations

• Top India Economic Forecasters See No Repeat of 2013 Sell-Off

  On Wednesday the Fed gave another signal, indicating it was a step closer to raising interest rates, expectations of which have already led to a 25 percent rally in the dollar against a basket of currencies since last summer.

• India will achieve revenue target in 2013-14: Chidambaram

  Asia's third-largest economy expects to mop up Rs. 13, 300 crore through direct taxes and Rs. 4,700 crore through indirect taxes in 2013/14, the federal budget document shows.

• Budget 2013: FM perfects the tightrope walk, balances banking sector expectations

  While some of the proposals in the Union Budget 2013 would have a positive effect on the banking sector, the budget on the whole appears to have evoked mixed reactions from the banking industry, if the bank index of the stock exchange is anything to go by.

• Budget 2013 seeks to attract investment while maintaining moderate tax rates

  With 2014 elections only a year away, this Budget was expected to be populist. Credit should be given to Finance Minister P Chidambaram to have stuck to his own motto of pursuing a clarity in tax laws, a stable tax regime, a non-adversarial tax administration, and a fair mechanism for dispute resolution.

• Budget 2013: How you are affected

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram's eighth Budget was not a big bang affair, but analysts said he has quietly ensured that India's finances are in shape and the economy gets back on track even as the government gets into an election mode. The markets may have been unimpressed by the Budget, but the aam aadmi walked out with a better deal.

• Budget 2013: Will Chidambaram's ambitious revenue-expenditure math add up?

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram unveiled a surge in spending on Thursday, despite expectations of an austerity budget to shore up the government's finances, imposing new taxes on the rich and large companies to fund a dash for growth ahead of an election due by next year.

• Union Budget 2013: Finance Minister P Chidambaram explains his budget

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who presented his eighth Budget in Parliament today, held a press conference.

• Budget 2013: Carmakers reel from SUV tax hike

  A surprise hike in tax on SUVs in India risked hurting one of the only bright spots in the country's automotive market, sending industry shares falling on Thursday after a budget that offered little help for the struggling industry.

• Budget 2013: why Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approves

  Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday hailed Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for promising to revisit criteria for special category status and said that it was a 'victory in-principle' for Bihar in view of its consistent demand for grant of such a status.

• Budget 2013: Nirbhaya Fund, with 1000-crores, to be used for women's safety

  The 23-year-old student whose fatal gang-rape on a moving bus in Delhi stirred national outrage and grief has inspired the government to create a special Rs. 1000-crore "Nirbhaya Fund," largely dedicated to improving women's safety, the Finance Minister said in Parliament today.

• Budget 2013: Government keeps gold import duty unchanged

  The government held its gold import duty unchanged in Thursday's budget, defying industry expectations that the world's biggest bullion buyer would increase rates to curb demand and rein in a record current account deficit (CAD).

• Budget 2013: Unhappy markets at three-month low

  Budget 2013: P Chidambaram, shackled by the worst economic slowdown in a decade and the political demands of an election year, served a Budget 2013 today that has been described at best as balanced and pragmatic and at worst as disappointing and lacking substance. The Prime Minister said Mr Chidambaram had done a "commendable job", while RBI Deputy...

• Budget 2013: Manmohan Singh says it lays roadmap for investment

  Union Budget 2013: Hailing the budget, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said it would reverse the pessimistic mood and lay the roadmap for investments as he expressed confidence of returning to eight per cent growth within three years.

• Union budget 2013: Delhi Metro gets Rs 7,701 crore for Phase-III construction

  Delhi Metro on Thursday got a budgetary allocation of Rs 7,701 crore for construction of its ambitious Phase-III project that envisages extending the modern transport system further in the national capital.

• Union Budget 2013: Mobile phones above Rs 2,000 set to cost more

  Mobile phones are set to become costlier with Finance Minister P Chidambaram raising excise duty to six per cent on handsets priced above Rs 2,000 in Budget 2013-14.