ECONOMIC SURVEY 2011-2012 HIGHLIGHTS

The Indian economy is expected to grow at 8.75-9.25% in financial year 2012 according to the Economic Survey for the year 2011-12 announced on Friday.

Robust growth and steady fiscal consolidation have been the hallmark of the Indian economy in the year 2010-11 so far. The growth rate has been 8.6% in 2010-11 and is expected to be around 9% in the next fiscal year.

The growth has been broad-based with a rebound in the agriculture sector which is expected to grow around 5.4%. Manufacturing and services sector have registered impressive gains. Savings and investment are looking up while exports are rising. However, food inflation, higher commodity prices and volatility in global commodity markets have been a cause of concern underscoring the need of fiscal consolidation and stronger reserves.

Below are the highlights:

On Growth

• Indian economy to grow 8.75-9.25% in FY12
• Expect Indian econ to top 9% growth rate FY12
• Maintaining growth with price stability key challenge
• Seeing fast, strong turnaround in Indian economy
• India growth likely to revert to pre-crisis level FY12
• Expect India's economic growth to pick up medium-term
• Probability of second-dip recession very low
• FY11 GDP growth relatively broad-based
• Monsoon, crude prices pose risk to econ growth

On Inflation

• Inflation is clearly a dominant concern
• Inflation may stay elevated on West Asia crisis
• Food price, demand pressure to drive inflation outlook
• Inflation largely driven by food items
• High food inflation "dark cloud" on Indian economy
• High food prices driven by demand factors
• Inflation pressure seen exacerbated by global prices
• Rising purchasing power aiding spurt in food prices
• Economic recovery triggered demand-side pressure in economy
• Inflation pressures from both domestic, global factors
• Core inflation suggests inflation now generalised
• Need to prevent inflation slipping into core sector
• Food inflation stubbornly in double-digits
• Inflation likely to moderate on fiscal, monetary steps
• Committed to provide cooking fuel at affordable price
• Plan to increase diesel prices in staggered manner
• Government to cap auto fuel prices if crude oil spurts
• April-December average inflation of 9.4% highest in 10 years
• High food inflation not unique to India
• Inflation significantly above RBI's comfort level
• Need to be vigilant against demand-side pressures
• Grain release in batches, not bulk, to tame inflation

On Fiscal Front

• Centre's fiscal broadly on consolidation track April-December
• India FY11 fiscal gap seen 4.8% on higher GDP base
• India FY11 revenue gap seen 3.8% of GDP
• Current account gap likely to moderate on export spurt
• Need to lower fiscal deficit
• Liquidity crunch mainly due to large government cash balance
• Need more proactive fiscal steps to eradicate poverty
• Favours smart cards also for kerosene, fertiliser subsidy
• Buoyant tax revenue key driver of fiscal consolidation
• Rise in corporate, service tax mop-up noteworthy
• Prospects of revenue-led fiscal consolidation bright
• Better subsidy targeting improving fiscal management
• Direct Taxes Code proposed to be launched April 2012
• Tax buoyancy, 3G auction brightened FY11 fiscal health
• States likely to be back on fiscal consolidation FY12
• States' consensus on GST yet to be achieved
• Deepening reforms key to sustain fiscal consolidation

On Monetary Front

• Need persistent anti-inflation monetary stance
• Government implementing gradual exit from stimulus
• Liquidity management major challenge for RBI
• Excessive cash crunch makes credit delivery difficult
• Need G20 co-operation to manage forex flow volatility
• RBI forex market intervention unlikely to be inflationary
• Don't want total reliance on import to beat shortages

On Banking, Financial Institutions

• Minimum capital requirement for banks should be graded
• Two types of banking licences could be considered
• May mull separate licence for basic, full banking services

On Industry

• Deceleration in industrial output cause for concern
• Slowdown in industrial growth seen temporary
• Medium-term industrial growth prospect seen positive
• Plan to increase diesel prices in staggered manner
• Government to cap auto fuel prices if crude oil spurts
• Committed to provide cooking fuel at affordable price
• Need to keep all options open if forex flows hurt economy

On Food Prices

• Food price, demand pressure to drive inflation outlook
• Maintaining growth with price stability key challenge
• High food prices driven by demand factors
• Higher FY11 farm growth to help ease food prices
• Rising purchasing power aiding spurt in food prices

On Agriculture

• Need to review grain release, procurement policies
• Don't want total reliance on import to beat shortages
• Ample scope for improvement in grain release policy
• Grain release in batches, not bulk, to tame inflation
• Urgent need to expand storage space, facilities
• Need to plug PDS slippages to expand, improve coverage
• Smart card, coupons to help target food subsidy better
• Favours smart cards also for kerosene, fertiliser subsidy

On Capital, Investment

• Need to deepen capital markets
• "Sluggish" bureaucracy impeding FDI inflows

On External Affairs

• Economic uncertainty prevails in Europe, US
• Probability of second-dip recession very low
• Need to keep all options open if forex flows hurt econ
• Slowdown in FDI partly offset spurt in FII investment
• Need G20 co-operation to manage FX flow volatility
• RBI forex market intervention unlikely to be inflationary
• "Sluggish" bureaucracy impeding FDI inflows

Miscellaneous

• Direct Taxes Code proposed to be launched April 2012
• Tax buoyancy, 3G auction brightened FY11 fiscal health
• States likely to be back on fiscal consolidation FY12
• States' consensus on GST yet to be achieved

Speaking about it, Siddhartha Sanyal, Chief India Economist, Barclays Capital told CNBC-TV18 said the survey was on expected lines. He expects fiscal deficit at 5.3% of GDP in FY12. "Nominal GDP is expected to come in at 14.5-15% for next fiscal," he said.

Highlights of Railway Budget 2011-12

No hike in passenger fare and freight rates.

Highest ever Plan outlay of Rs. 57, 630 crore proposed for Railways.

Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new lines.

1300 km new lines, 867 km doubling of lines and 1017 km gauge conversion targeted in 2011-12.

56 new Express Trains, 3 new Shatabdis and 9 Duronto trains to be introduced.

AC Double Decker services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes.

New Super AC Class to be introduced.

A new portal for e-ticketing to be launched shortly.  Booking charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs. 10 for AC classes and Rs.5 for others.

Pan-India multi-purpose smart card “Go India” to be introduced.

236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations.

47 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 50 new suburban services proposed for Kolkata.

Two new passenger terminals in Kerala and one each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal proposed.

Feasibility study to raise speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph to be undertaken.

A special package of two new trains and two projects for the States managing trouble free run of trains through out the year.

Anti Collision Devise (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal railways.

GPS Based ‘Fog Safe’ Device to be deployed.

All unmanned level crossing upto 3000 to be eliminated.

All India Security Help line on a single number set up.

All state capitals in the North-East except Sikkim to be connected by Rail in next seven years.

A Bridge Factory in J & K and a state-of-art Institute for Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu.

A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur.

A Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling proposed under the aegis of CRIS.

Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaon proposed.

Additional mechanized laundry units to be set up at Nagpur, Chandhigarh and Bhopal.

700 MW gas-based power plant to be set up at Thakurli in Maharashtra.

18,000 Wagons to be procured during 2011-12.

A scheme for socially desirable projects, ‘Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana’ with Non-lapsable fund proposed.

10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in Mumbai, Sealdah,Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.

Concession to physically handicapped persons to be extended on Rajdhani andShatabdi trains.

Concession of 50% to press correspondents with family increased to twice a year.

Senior Citizens concession to be hiked from 30 % to 40 %.

Medical facilities extended to dependent parents of the Railway employees.

Scholarship for Girl child of Group-D railway employees increased to Rs.1200 per month.

20 additional hostels for children of railway employees to be set up.

Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ including to fill up backlog of SC/ST  initiated, 16,000 ex-servicemen to be inducted by March 2011.

A separate sports cadre to be created.

2011-12 declared ‘Year of Green Energy’ for Railways.

Freight loading of 993 MT and passenger growth of 6.4 % estimated for 2011-12.

Gross Traffic Receipts at Rs.1,06,239 crore, exceeding one lakh crore mark for the first time estimated.

Ordinary Working Expenses assessed at Rs. 73,650 crore.

Biography of Mahatma Gandhiji

A Thin Indian man with not much hair sits alone on a bare floor, wearing nothing but a pair of cheap spectacles, studying the clutch of handwritten notes in his hand. The black – and – white photograph takes up a full page in the newspaper. In the top left-hand corner of the page, in full color, is a small rainbow – stripe apple. Below this, there’s a slangily American injection to “Think Different”. Such is the present-day power of business. Even the greatest of the dead may summarily be drafted into its image ad campaign. Once, a half-century ago, this bony man shaped a nation’s struggle for freedom. But that, as they say, is history. Now Gandhi is modeling for Apple. His thoughts don’t really count in this new incarnation. What counts is that he is considered to be “on message”, in line with the corporate philosophy of Apple.

The advertisement is odd enough to be worth dissecting a little. Obviously it is rich in unintentional comedy. M. K. Gandhi, as the photograph itself demonstrates, was a passionate opponent of modernity and technology, preferring the pencil to the typewriter, the loincloth to the business suite, the plowed field to the belching manufactory. Had the word processor been invented in his lifetime, he would almost certainly found it abhorrent. The very term word processor, with its overly technological ring, is unlikely to have found favor.

“Think Different”. Gandhi in his younger days a sophisticated and westernized lawyer, did indeed change his thinking more radically than most people do. Ghanshyam Das Birla, one of the merchant princes who backed him, once said, “He was more modern than I. But he made a conscious decision to go back to the Middle Ages”. This is not, presumably, the revolutionary new direction of thought that the good folks at Apple are seeking to encourage.

Gandhi today is up for grabs. He has become abstract, a historical, postmodern, no longer a man in and of his time but a free-floating concept, a part of available stock of cultural symbols, an image that can be borrowed, used, distorted, reunited to fit many different purposes, and to the devil with historicity or truth.

Richard Attenborough’s much-Oscared movie Gandhi, struck me, when it was first released, as an example of this type of unhistorical Western saint making. Here was Gandhi-as-guru, purveying that fashionable product, the Wisdom of the East; and Gandhi-as-Christ, dying (and, before that, frequently going on hunger strike) so that other might live. His philosophy of nonviolence seemed to work by embarrassing the British into leaving; freedom could be won, film appeared to suggest, by being more moral than your oppressor, whose moral code could then oblige him to withdraw.

But such is the efficacy of this symbolic Gandhi that the film, for all its simplification and Hollywoodizations, had a powerful and positive effect on many contemporary freedom struggles. South African anti-apartheid campaigners and democratic voices all over South America have enthused to me about the film’s galvanizing effects. This posthumous, exalted “International Gandhi” has apparently become a totem of real inspirational force.

The trouble with the idealized Gandhi is that he’s darned so dull, little more than a dispenser of homilies and nostrums (“An eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind”) with just the odd flash of wit (asked what he thought of Western civilization, he gave the celebrated reply, “I think it would be a great idea”). The real man, if it is still possible to use such a term after the generations of hagiography and reinvention, was infinitely more interesting, one of the most complex and contradictory personalities of the century. His full name – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was memorably – and literallt – translated into English by the novelist G. V. Desani as “Action – Slave Fascination – Moon Grocer”, and he was rich and devious a figure as that glorious name suggests.

Entirely unafraid of the British, he was nevertheless afraid of the dark, and always slept with a light burning by his bedside. He believed passionately in the unity of all the peoples of India., yet his failure to keep the Muslim leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah within the Indian National Congress’s fold led to the partition of the country. (For all his vaunted selflessness and modesty, he made no move to object when Jinnah was attacked during a Congress session for calling him “Mr. Gandhi” instead of “Mahatma”, and booed off the stage by the Gandhi’s supporters. Later his withdrawal, under pressure from Jwaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, of a last-ditch offer to Jinnah of the prime ministership itself, ended the last faint chance of avoiding partition.)

He was determined to live his life as an ascetic, but, as the poet Sarojini Naidu joked, it cost the nation a fortune to keep Gandhi living in poverty. His entire philosophy privileged the village way over that of the city, yet he was always financially dependent on the support of industrial billionaires like Birla. His hunger strikes could stop riots and massacres, but he also once went on hunger strike to force one of his capitalist’s employees to break their strike against the harsh conditions of employment.

He sought to improve the conditions of the untouchables, yet in today’s India, these peoples, now calling themselves Dalits and forming and increasingly well-organized with the effective political grouping, have rallied around the memory of their own leader, Bhimarao Ramji Ambedkar, an old rival of Gandhi’s. As Ambedkar’s star has risen among the Dalits, so Gandhi’s stature has been reduced.

The creator of the political philosophies of passive resistance and constructive nonviolence, but spent much of his life far from the political arena, refining his more eccentric theories of vegetarianism, bowel movements, and the beneficial properties of human excrement.

Forever scarred by the knowledge that, as a sixteen-year-old youth, he’d been making love to his wife, Kasturba, at the moment of his father’s death, Gandhi later forswore sexual relations but went on into his old age with what he called his “brahmacharya experiments”, during which naked young man would be asked to lie with all night so that he could prove that he had mastered his physical urges. (He believed that total control over his “vital fluids” would enhance his spiritual powers).

He, and he alone, was responsible for the transformation of the demand for independence into nationwide mass movement that mobilized every class of society against the imperialist, yet the free India that came into being, divided and committed to a program of modernization and industrialization, was not the India of his dreams. His sometime disciple, Nehru, was the arch proponent of modernization, and it was Nehru’s vision, not Gandhi’s that was eventually – and perhaps inevitably – preferred.

Gandhi began by believing that the politics of passive resistance and nonviolence should be effective in any situation, at any time, even against a force as malign as Nazi Germany. Later he was obliged to revise his opinion, and concluded that while the British had responded to such techniques because of their own nature, other oppressors might not.

Gandhian nonviolence is widely believed to be the method by which India gained independence. (The view is assiduously fostered inside India as well as outside it.) Yet the Indian revolution did indeed become violence, and this violence so disappointed Gandhi that he stayed away from the Independence celebrations in protest. Moreover, the ruinous economic impact of World War II on Britain and – as British writer Patrick French says in his book Liberty or Death: India’s Journey to Independence and Division – the gradual collapse of the Raj’s bureaucratic hold over India from the mid ’30’s onward did as much to bring about freedom as any action of Gandhi’s. It is probable, in fact, that Gandhian techniques were not the key determinants of India’s arrival at freedom. They gave independence its outward character and were its apparent cause, but darker and deeper historical forces produced the desired effect.

These days few people pause to consider the complex character of Gandhi’s personality, the ambiguous nature of his achievement and legacy, or even the real cause of Indian independence. These are hurried, sloganizing times, and we don’t have the time or, worse, the inclination to assimilate many-sided truths. The harshest truth of all is that Gandhi is increasingly irrelevant in the country whose “little father” – Bapu – he was. As the analyst Sunil Khilnani has pointed out, India came into being a secularized state, but Gandhi’s vision was essentially religious. However, he “recoiled” from Hindu nationalism. His solution was to forge an Indian identity out of the shared body of ancient narratives. “He turned to the legends and stories from the India’s popular religious traditions, preferring their lessons to the supposed ones of the history”.

It didn’t work. In today’s India, Hindu nationalism is rampant in the form of the Bhartiya Janta Party. During the recent elections, Gandhi and his ideas have scarcely been mentioned.

In the early 1970s the writer Ved Mehta spoke to one of Gandhi’s leading political associates, a former Governor-General of independent India, C.Rajagopalachari. His verdict on Gandhi’s legacy is disenchanted, but in today’s India, on the fast track to free-market capitalism, it still rings true: “The glamour of modern technology, money, and power is to seductive that no one – I mean no one – can resist it. The handful of Gandhian who still believe in his philosophy of a simple life in a simple society are mostly cranks”.

What, then is greatness? In what does it reside? If a man’s project fails, or survives only in irredeemably tarnished form, can the force of his example still merit the extreme accolade? For Jawaharlal Nehru, the defining image of Gandhi was “as I saw him marching, staff in hand, to Dandi on the Salt March in 1930. Here was the pilgrim on his quest of truth, quite, peaceful, determined, and fearless, who would continue that quest and pilgrimage, regardless of consequences”. Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi later said, “More than his words, his life was his message”. These days, that message is better heeded outside India. Albert Einstein was one of many to praise Gandhi’s achievement; Martin Luther King Jr., the Dalai Lama, and all the world’s peace movement have followed in his footsteps. Gandhi, who gave up cosmopolitanism to gain a prove resilient, smart, tough, sneaky and, yes, ethical enough to avoid assimilation by global Mc Culture ( Mac culture too). Against this new empire, Gandhian intelligence is a better weapon than Gandhian piety. And passive resistance? We’ll see.

UNION BUDGET 2011-2012 HIGHLIGHTS

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday presented to Parliament India's budget for the coming financial year beginning in April. 

Following are the highlights of the budget: 

TAXES  
* Standard rate of excise duty held at 10 percent; no change in CENVAT rates 
* Personal income tax exemption limit raised to Rs 180,000 from Rs 160,000 for individual tax payers 
*For senior citizens, the qualifying age reduced to 60 years and exemption limit raised to Rs 2.50 lakh. 
*Citizens over 80 years to have exemption limit of Rs 5 lakh. 
* To reduce surcharge on domestic companies to 5 percent from 7.5 percent. 
* A new revised income tax return form 'Sugam' to be introduced for small tax papers. 
* To raise minimum alternate tax to 18.5 percent from 18 percent 
* Direct tax proposals to cause 115 billion rupees in revenue loss 
* Service tax rate kept at 10 percent 
* Customs and excise proposals to result in net revenue gain of 73 billion rupees 
* Iron ore export duty raised to 20 percent 
*Nominal one per cent central excise duty on 130 items entering the tax net. Basic food and fuel and precious stones, gold and silver jewellery will be exempted. 
*Peak rate of customs duty maintained at 10 per cent in view of the global economic situation. 
*Basic customs duty on agricultural machinery reduced to 4.5 per cent from 5 per cent. 
*Service tax widened to cover hotel accommodation above Rs 1,000 per day, A/C restaurants serving liquor, some category of hospitals, diagnostic tests. 
*Service tax on air travel increased by Rs 50 for domestic travel and Rs 250 for international travel in economy class. On higher classes, it will be ten per cent flat. 
* Electronic filing of TDS returns at source stabilised; simplified forms to be introduced for small taxpayers. 
* Works of art exempt from customs when imported for exhibition in state-run institutions; this now extended to private institutions. 

SUBSIDIES 
* Subsidy bill in 2011-12 seen at 1.44 trillion rupees 
* Food subsidy bill in 2011-12 seen at 605.7 billion rupees 
* Revised food subsidy bill for 2010-11 at 606 billion rupees 
* Fertiliser subsidy bill in 2011-12 seen at 500 billion rupees 
* Revised fertiliser subsidy bill for 2010-11 at 550 billion rupees 
* Petroleum subsidy bill in 2011-12 seen at 236.4 billion rupees 
* Revised petroleum subsidy bill in 2010-11 at 384 billion rupees 
* State-run oil retailers to be provided with 200 billion rupee cash subsidy in 2011-12 

FISCAL DEFICIT
* Fiscal deficit seen at 5.1 percent of GDP in 2010-11 
* Fiscal deficit seen at 4.6 percent of GDP in 2011-12 
* Fiscal deficit seen at 3.5 percent of GDP in 2013-14 

SPENDING 
* Total expenditure in 2011-12 seen at 12.58 trillion rupees 
* Plan expenditure seen at 4.41 trillion rupees in 2011-12, up 18.3 percent 

REVENUE 
* Gross tax receipts seen at 9.32 trillion rupees in 2011-12 
* Non-tax revenue seen at 1.25 trillion rupees in 2011-12 
* Corporate tax receipts seen at 3.6 trillion rupees in 2011-12 
* Tax-to-GDP ratio seen at 10.4 percent in 2011-12; seen at 10.8 percent in 2012-13 
* Customs revenue seen at 1.52 trillion rupees in 2011-12 
* Factory gate duties seen at 1.64 trillion rupees in 2011-12 
*Service tax receipts seen at 820 billion rupees in 2011-12 
* Revenue gain from indirect tax proposals seen at 113 billion rupees in 2011-12 
* Service tax proposals to result in net revenue gain of 40 billion rupees in 2011-12 

GROWTH, INFLATION EXPECTATIONS 
* Economy expected to grow at 9 percent in 2012, plus or minus 0.25 percent 
* Inflation seen lower in the financial year 2011-12 

DISINVESTMENT 
* Disinvestment in 2011-12 seen at 400 billion rupees 
* Government committed to retaining 51 percent stake in public sector enterprises. 

BORROWING 
* Net market borrowing for 2011-12 seen at 3.43 trillion rupees, down from 3.45 trillion rupees in 2010-11 
* Gross market borrowing for 2011-12 seen at 4.17 trillion rupees 
* Revised gross market borrowing for 2010-11 at 4.47 trillion rupees 

POLICY REFORMS 
* To create infrastructure debt funds 
* FDI policy being liberalised. 
* To boost infrastructure development with tax-free bonds of 300 billion rupees 
* Food security bill to be introduced this year 
* To permit SEBI registered mutual funds to access subscriptions from foreign investments 
* Raised foreign institutional investor limit in 5-year corporate bonds for investment in infrastructure by $20 billion 
* Setting up independent debt management office; Public debt bill to be introduced in parliament soon 
* Bills on insurance, pension funds, banking to be introduced. 
*Constitution Amendment Bill for introduction of GST regime in this session. 
*New Companies Bill to be introduced in current session 

SECTOR SPENDING 
* To allocate more than 1.64 trillion rupees to defence sector in 2011-12 ( 11% hike in defence allocation ) 
* Corpus of rural infrastructure development fund raised to 180 billion rupees in 2011-12 
* To provide 201.5 billion rupees capital infusion in state-run banks in 2011-12 
* To allocate 520.5 billion rupees for the education sector. Rs.21,000 crore for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. 
* To raise health sector allocation to 267.6 billion rupees ( 20% hike in health budget ) 
* Rs.500 crore more for national skill development fund. 
* Rs.54 crore each for AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) centres at Murshidabad and Mallapuram. 
* Rs.58,000 crore for Bharat Nirman; increase of Rs.10,000 crore. 
* Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme wage rates linked to consumer price index; will rise from existing Rs.100 per day. 
* Increased outlay on social sector schemes. ( Social sector allocation up by 17%) 
* Infrastructure critical for development; 23 percent higher allocation in 2011-12. ( Rs 2,14,000 cr allocated for infrastructure sector ) 


AGRICULTURE ( Farm loans at 4 per cent ) 
* Removal of supply bottlenecks in the food sector will be in focus in 2011-12 
* Agriculture growth key to development: Green Revolution waiting to happen in eastern region. 
* To raise target of credit flow to agriculture sector to 4.75 trillion rupees 
* Gives 3 percent interest subsidy to farmers in 2011-12 
* Cold storage chains to be given infrastructure status 
* Capitalisation of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) of 30 billion rupees in a phased manner 
* To provide 3 billion rupees for 60,000 hectares under palm oil plantation 
* Actively considering new fertiliser policy for urea 
* Food storage capacity to be augmented - 15 more mega food parks to be set up in 2011-12; of 30 sanctioned in previous fiscal, 15 set up. 
* Comprehensive policy on further developing PPP (public-private-partnership) model. 
* Farmers need access to affordable credit. 
* Moving to improve nutritional security. 
* Necessary to accelerate production of fodder. 

ON THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY (Pranab on economy ) 
* "Fiscal consolidation has been impressive. This year has also seen significant progress in those critical institutional reforms that will pave the way for double digit growth in the near future." 
* "At times the biggest reforms are not the ones that make headlines, but the ones concerned with details of governance which affect the everyday life of aam aadmi (common man). In preparing this year's budget, I have been deeply conscious of this fact." 
* Food inflation remains a concern 
* Current account deficit situation poses some concern 
* Must ensure that private investment is sustained 
* "The economy has shown remarkable resilience." 
* Setting tone for newer, vibrant economy. 
* Economy back to pre-crisis trajectory. 
* Development needs to be more inclusive. 

ON GOVERNANCE 
* "Certain events in the past few months may have created an impression of drift in governance and a gap in public accountability ... such an impression is misplaced." 
* Corruption is a problem, must fight it collectively 

MORE 
*Govt to move towards direct transfer of cash subsidy for kerosene, LPG and fertilisers. 
*Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge B Srikrishna, to complete its work in 24 months; to overhaul financial regulations. 
* Five-fold strategy against black money; 13 new double taxation avoidance agreements; foreign tax division of CTBT strengthened; strength of Enforcement Directorate increased three-fold. 
* Bill to be introduced to review Indian Stamp Act. 
* New coins carrying new rupee symbol to be issued. 
* Anganwadi workers salary raised from Rs.1,500 to Rs.3,000. 
* Mortgage risk guarantee fund to be created for economically weaker sections. 
* Housing loan limit for priority sector lending raised to Rs.25 lakh.