Budget of India: 2008

The Indian government is presenting its budget this week, outlining how it hopes to tackle a broad range of challenges in the years ahead.

India's consumers
Sangeeta More, whose husband works in security, doesn't understand numbers, but is busy trying to survive. Stretching her husband's income to feed her family.

While the middle class is relatively immune to such price rises, Sangeeta's family is not so fortunate. "With the high price of wheat it's impossible to buy my regular quantities now, so I have switched to a cheaper cereal," she says.

India's entrepreneurs
Ankit Mehta charges his phone on the way to work, thanks to a small device he has developed. A grant from the government helped him build his prototype. Now he needs money to grow the actual company.

Finding investors to come in at such an early stage is proving tricky. "The government can be the initial risk-taker," says Shashkant Suryanarayanan, who owns a small firm that develops fuel efficient engines.

Oil & Gas:
Earlier this month, India raised retail prices of petrol and diesel by around 4 percent after pressure from oil companies. They have to sell fuel at subsidised rates and had been losing millions of dollars from a surge in global prices.

Following are policy options relevant to the energy sector which Indian analysts believe could feature in Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's speech.

• The oil industry is seeking a series of tax and duty changes related to oil product retailing, exploration activities and natural gas which they say could help reduce fuel prices & attract more investment.


• Cut in duties on retail fuels is the most widely expected move, as it would help arrest retailers' revenue losses due to state-controlled prices.

Power Generation:
Power firms are looking for a cut in import and excise duties on power project equipment that would help lower costs and lead to lower electricity tariffs.

Import and excise duties on power equipment may be halved to 8 percent, while customs duty could be trimmed to 5 percent from 10 percent.

Rural India
One of the ways this government has tried to spread wealth in the countryside is by creating a massive rural employment plan, which guarantees 100 days of work for one person in every poor household. The scheme is now two years old, but many say its performance has fallen short of expectations.

The rural employment guarantee plan is the Indian government's attempt to address some of the countryside's biggest problems - poverty and unemployment.

Via Reuters/BBC