NEW DELHI, FEB 17, 2014: AS expected the Union Finance Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, in his Interim Budget Speech, announced significant indirect tax sops for certain sub-sectors of the Indian manufacturing Sector which have been reeling under the weight of piled up goods in the warehouses and dwindling demand curve. Some of the Sectors which have been provided excise duty and Customs duty relief till the presentation of the Next Budget in July, are the automobile industry; mobile handset manufacturing sector, capital goods sector and soap manufacturing sector.

Although when the TN Chief Minister Amma wrote to the Prime Minister as reported by DDT earlier for service tax exemption to rice - a mass consumption item, very few expected that Mr Chidambaram will oblige. But TIOL knew that the FM will not let Amma steal a march upon him and he did announce today exemption for loading & unloading and also warehousing services provided in relation to paddy.

On the fiscal deficit front, although the FM was targeting only 4.8% figure but the impact of his policy measures was so overwhelming that it was today announced to be in the region of 4.6%. Thanks to curbs on gold imports, the current account deficit is going to be only about USD 45 bn. Interestingly, the FM also expects the economy to grow by 5.2% in the current fiscal as against the projections of all global pundits like IMF, WB and moody rating agencies like the Moody's.