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Submitted | March 16, 2012 |
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Submitted by | Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister |
Party | INC |
Website | http://www.indiabudget.nic.in Official Site |
‹ 2011 2013› |
The 2012 Union budget of India was presented by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on March 16, 2012. [1] This budget was presented in a challenging backdrop of slowing domestic growth, high inflation, and global economic uncertainty stemming from the Eurozone crisis. [2] [3] The budget aimed to revive growth, control inflation, and move towards fiscal consolidation. [4]
The Indian economy had experienced a slowdown in the fiscal year 2011-12, with GDP growth decelerating from the preceding years. The Economic Survey 2011-12, tabled just before the budget, estimated growth at 6.9%, a significant drop from the 8.4% recorded in 2010-11. [2] Persistently high inflation, particularly in food prices, remained a major concern and leading to protests over corruption and price hikes. [5] [6] The fiscal deficit was also under pressure, exceeding the initial budget estimates for 2011-12 [5] along with subsidy spending reaching up to 2.5% of the GDP. [6] Globally, the sovereign debt crisis in Europe added to economic uncertainty and impacted capital flows. [3] The government faced criticism over policy inaction, sometimes termed 'policy paralysis', [7] which was seen as hindering investment and growth. [8]
Notable changes included: [9]
The budget proposal was widely criticized to be a "play-it-safe", [5] "too-conservative" [10] budget with no big reforms or policy changes. [6] [3] [11] [12]
The Indian economy is estimated to grow by 6.9 per cent in 2011-12... following a growth of 8.4 per cent in each of the two preceding years. This indicates a slowdown ...