How they reported our budget
Here is a sample of how the foreign press reacted to our budget
BBC
India's Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram - who has a reputation for favouring market-friendly economic policies - presented a distinctly left-of-centre federal budget on Wednesday.
It was in keeping with the ideological inclinations of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that is crucially dependent on support from its communist allies.
At a time when the economy of the world's second most populous nation is growing at about 9% a year for the second year in succession, Mr Chidambaram's budget upped government expenditure on agriculture, rural development, irrigation, education, health-care and road construction
VOA News
Analysts say the Congress Party-led government has turned its focus to agriculture and inflation after losses in two state elections this month. Discontent among poor people hurt by rising food prices has been blamed for the party's defeat. Congress faces more state elections this year, and general elections in 2009.
Daily Times – Pakistan Indian defence budget unlikely to satisfy armed forces
India’s expected rise in defence spending of around 7-8 percent was unlikely to make a dent in the long shopping list of the world’s fourth largest military, defence officials and analysts said on Tuesday, the eve of the country’s annual general budget.
They pointed out that the urgent need to improve healthcare, education and infrastructure would check the ambitions of one the world’s biggest military spenders, despite talk of an arms race with Pakistan and China.
India raised its defence budget by 7 percent to Indian Rs 890 billion (US $20 billion) for the year ending March 2007, as part of ongoing plans to modernize its 1.3-million strong military.
A top defence official said: “The increase in defence allocation is expected to be around the same levels, seven or eight percent, to keep it at around 2.4 or 2.5 percent of GDP (gross domestic product). Of course, it won’t be enough, but that has been the trend.”
But slow decision-making and a lack of strategic planning means that some of the money may not even be spent, as has been the case in the past.
India has pegged its military spending at around 2.5 percent of GDP - estimated at around $920 billion in January - although both the country’s armed forces and defence experts have for years clamoured for expenditure to be set at 3 percent of GDP.
Defence officials noted that both Pakistan and China spent around 5 percent of their GDP on defence, pointing out that New Delhi had to keep pace despite peace on both frontiers.
They also pointed out that Pakistan had been on its own modernisation spree, particularly of its air force, and continued to eye more American F-16 fighters and Chinese JF-17 Thunders and the J-10 aircraft.
Yet despite booming economic ties between India and China, Beijing remained a worry due to its regular defence spending boosts and muscle flexing in the form of next-generation weapons, such as the anti-satellite missile.
Nevertheless, analysts appeared divided on whether India was demonstrating restraint on the defence expenditure front.
According to Harsh Pant, who teaches defence studies at King’s College, London: “Unless adequate provisions are made for defence, no state will be able to pursue its developmental agenda. This is much more important for a country like India . . . with two of its ‘adversaries’ straddling it on two sides of its borders and problems on all sides of its periphery. Given that, its defence expenditure remains rather modest.” However, the New Delhi-based expert of Jane’s Defence Weekly, RahulBedi said that India was engaged in “ad hoc” arming.
“Whatever comes into the market, India wants to buy.”