Early poll would put fiscal targets at risk

NEW DELHI: Signs India's ruling coalition is loosening its purse strings to shore up voter support as a political impasse points to early elections could jeopardise a target to reduce the federal fiscal deficit.
The budget gap has almost halved to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product in 2006/07 from five years earlier as a rapidly expanding economy boosted government revenues. But an expected hefty pay rise for government workers, plans to keep fuel prices low, and new welfare schemes for India's poor - a massive voter bloc - could inflate the deficit again.

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