FM assures relief to sectors under 'stress'

Hints at sops for sectors like textiles that have been hit by the Re appreciation.

The coming Budget will focus on growth and give "relief" to the sectors under "stress" such as those affected by the appreciation of the rupee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said.

Preparing his fifth consecutive Budget, the finance minister said he had no worry other than the sectors under "stress" and added he would address this in the Budget.

"There is no sector which is worrying me. There are some sectors which are under stress. For example, the rupee appreciation has caused some stress to some sectors. We will address these causes to the extent possible and give them some relief," he said.

The remarks assume significance against the backdrop of the steady rise in the value of the rupee during the last one year. The commerce ministry has estimated that this will cause a loss of Rs 53,000 crore to exporters in 2007-08.

He said otherwise all sectors were doing reasonably well in terms of production. "If there is a slowdown in demand in some sectors like housing and real estate, this is the result of a conscious policy to moderate demand in these sectors," he said.

Confident of 9 per cent growth in the current fiscal, Chidambaram said: "The thrust of the Budget (2008-09) will be maintaining high growth and ensuring that the growth process endorses and includes larger sections of the people."

Refusing to accept that this will be an election Budget, he said budgets did not decide elections. "What decides elections is the capacity to deliver what you say. Budgets only give outlays and don't ensure outcomes. Between outlays and outcomes there is something called governance and delivery," the finance minister said.

He said budgets certainly raised expectations and "we support these expectations with financial outlays". "It was the outcome of the Budget that would decide if we had delivered or not," he said.

Growth, he emphasised, was imperative. "Inclusive growth is what we must work for. It requires hard work. It requires better governance. It requires delivery of goods and services."

Admitting that the delivery of promised goods and services had not been satisfactory, Chidambaram said there was enough time for improvement.

He added the 16 months between the present and the Lok Sabha elections were enough.