7. Drawing on the National Agenda for Governance and policy statements of the Prime Minister, I believe the key objectives of this budget should be to:

Strengthen the foundations of the Indian economy to deal effectively with an inherently uncertain external environment.

Reverse the decline in agriculture and strengthen the rural economy.

Restore the momentum of industrial growth, especially of small scale enterprises, and revive the capital market.

Accelerate the development of infrastructure.

By these and other means, rapidly expand productive job opportunities.

Give special impetus to social sector development.

Calibrate the pace and character of integration with the world economy, while strengthening India’s international economic position through revival of exports and reduced reliance on borrowed funds.

Ensure macro-economic stability and control over inflation.

Raise the rate of domestic savings to achieve higher national investment and thus lay the basis for faster medium-term growth. Supplement this effort through foreign investment.

Free the productive energies of our people from unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and undertake reforms to raise the productivity of our land, labour and capital.