New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday said high borrowings of the government and large fiscal deficit were inevitable in the national budget given the need to push economic growth and allocate more funds for welfare programmes.
“I had to take this risk. But I do believe that it is not possible to sustain this level of borrowings. We have to go back to high economic growth,” the finance minister said in his reply to the debate on the national budget in the Lok Sabha.

Mukherjee said he was aware of the criticisms made by some members during the course of the debate, particularly on the issue of high government borrowings, pegged at Rs.391,000 crore (Rs.3,910 billion/$78.2 billion), and the resultant fiscal deficit.

“I have taken a tremendous step as finance minister with the hope that there will be a turnaround,” he said referring to India’s economic growth slipping to 6.7 percent last fiscal from over 9 percent in the preceding three years.

At the same time, he added, some members were also complaining that some of the flagship programmes of the government to tackle poverty across the country were inadequate.

“Should there be no enhancements in outlays of those projects?” Mukherjee queried, while adding this was necessary to reach the benefits of growth and development to the teeming millions of the society.

The finance minister also thanked fellow lawmakers, especially young parliamentarians, for the participating in large numbers in the debates on both the rail and the national budgets with keen interest.

“This clearly demonstrates the Indian democracy is entering a new phase.”

The finance minister had presented the $204-billion national budget July 6 that increased allocations for welfare schemes and infrastructure, along with a declared vision to reach the fruits of progress to each of the country’s 1.17 billion people.

Mukherjee said the budget had provided a lot of support to the farm sector, even as the government had set a higher target of Rs.350,000 crore (Rs.3,500 billion or $70 billion) as agriculture credit.

He said some members were not correct when they said that only 1 percent of the total expenditure was earmarked for agriculture. “If you look at all the various measures, it is one-fourth of the total expenditure - 25 percent.”