Budget 2019: State of economy

In the interim budget of 2019 the government fixed the fiscal deficit at 3.4 per cent for FY20 and the Current Account Deficit is expected at 2.5 per cent of the GDP. The fiscal deficit slippage is owing to the newly announced farm package.

Some key pointers of the budget speech delivered by Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.

The fiscal deficit is fixed at 3.4 per cent for FY20 and the Current Account Deficit at 2.5 per cent of the GDP. The fiscal deficit may witness a slippage owing to the newly announced farm package that proposed an income support scheme for farmers with an allocation Rs 75,000 crore per year.

The government has recovered Rs. 3 lakh crore through Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code proceedings. Government expects PSU banks on Prompt Corrective Action list to recover soon.

The rate of inflation in December 2018 stood at 2.1 per cent. Overall average inflation at around 4 per cent.

MNREGA: Rs 60,000 crore allocated, fund up by 9 per cent

Mega Pension Scheme: For organised sector and unorganised sector workers drawn Rs. 15,000 salary to get assured Rs. 3,000 per month pension post the age of 60 years. Government has allocated Rs. 500 crore for the same.

Defence Budget: Allocation increased by Rs. 3 lakh crore, which is 1.6 per cent of GDP.

Railways: Rs 64,587 crore allocated

At 13:15 hours, Nifty Bank was at 27,304.05, 0.03 per cent up. Nifty50 at 10,980 level up by 149.55 points or 1.38 per cent and Sensex was at 36,738.22, up by 481.53 points or 1.33 per cent on Friday.