STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 10 July 2014

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16. INDIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT UNVEILS REFORM BUDGET

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_BUDGET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-10-04-24-15

MUMBAI, India (AP) -- India's new government introduced a reform-minded budget Thursday, vowing to lift economic growth to rates of 7-8 percent by promoting manufacturing and infrastructure and overhauling populist subsidies.

The budget for the fiscal year ending March 2015 is being closely watched as an indicator of whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will act quickly to will deliver on promises to revive stalled economic growth.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley outlined the broad strokes of the plan, which he said would be a departure from the "mere populism and wasteful expenditure" that has dragged down Asia's third-largest economy.

He said it would be daunting to keep the budget deficit for the year at 4.1 percent of gross domestic product, as targeted by the previous government, and it might end up at 4.5 percent. In the two subsequent years it is forecast to fall to 3.6 percent and 3 percent of GDP respectively.