Budget 2013 Expectations

• Budget 2013: How you are affected

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram's eighth Budget was not a big bang affair, but analysts said he has quietly ensured that India's finances are in shape and the economy gets back on track even as the government gets into an election mode. The markets may have been unimpressed by the Budget, but the aam aadmi walked out with a better deal.

• Budget 2013: Will Chidambaram's ambitious revenue-expenditure math add up?

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram unveiled a surge in spending on Thursday, despite expectations of an austerity budget to shore up the government's finances, imposing new taxes on the rich and large companies to fund a dash for growth ahead of an election due by next year.

• Union Budget 2013: Finance Minister P Chidambaram explains his budget

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who presented his eighth Budget in Parliament today, held a press conference.

• Budget 2013: Carmakers reel from SUV tax hike

  A surprise hike in tax on SUVs in India risked hurting one of the only bright spots in the country's automotive market, sending industry shares falling on Thursday after a budget that offered little help for the struggling industry.

• Budget 2013: why Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar approves

  Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday hailed Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for promising to revisit criteria for special category status and said that it was a 'victory in-principle' for Bihar in view of its consistent demand for grant of such a status.

• Budget 2013: Nirbhaya Fund, with 1000-crores, to be used for women's safety

  The 23-year-old student whose fatal gang-rape on a moving bus in Delhi stirred national outrage and grief has inspired the government to create a special Rs. 1000-crore "Nirbhaya Fund," largely dedicated to improving women's safety, the Finance Minister said in Parliament today.

• Budget 2013: Unhappy markets at three-month low

  Budget 2013: P Chidambaram, shackled by the worst economic slowdown in a decade and the political demands of an election year, served a Budget 2013 today that has been described at best as balanced and pragmatic and at worst as disappointing and lacking substance. The Prime Minister said Mr Chidambaram had done a "commendable job", while RBI Deputy...

• Budget 2013: Manmohan Singh says it lays roadmap for investment

  Union Budget 2013: Hailing the budget, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said it would reverse the pessimistic mood and lay the roadmap for investments as he expressed confidence of returning to eight per cent growth within three years.

• Union budget 2013: Delhi Metro gets Rs 7,701 crore for Phase-III construction

  Delhi Metro on Thursday got a budgetary allocation of Rs 7,701 crore for construction of its ambitious Phase-III project that envisages extending the modern transport system further in the national capital.

• Union Budget 2013: Mobile phones above Rs 2,000 set to cost more

  Mobile phones are set to become costlier with Finance Minister P Chidambaram raising excise duty to six per cent on handsets priced above Rs 2,000 in Budget 2013-14.

• Union Budget 2013: Chidambaram's 8th, India's 82nd budget

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday presented his eighth annual budget in Parliament, the second highest by anyone in the country after a record ten by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

• Union Budget 2013: Rs 1000-crore fund for women's safety to be named after Delhi Braveheart

  The 23-year-old student whose fatal gang-rape on a moving bus in Delhi stirred national outrage and grief has inspired the government to create a special Rs 1000-crore fund, largely dedicated to improving women's safety, the Finance Minister said in Parliament today.

• Union Budget 2013: No change in income tax rates or slabs - highlights

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram is presenting his Budget 2013 in Parliament. The following are the highlights of his keenly-watched tax proposals:

• Budget 2013: Women's bank to open by October, promises Chidambaram

  Union Budget 2013: As part of his union budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today that India will set up a special Public Sector Unit bank solely for women, and to support businesses run by women.

• Union Budget 2013: highlights

  Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented one of the most highly anticipated budgets of recent years today, a blueprint for austerity that forms the centrepiece of India's efforts to stave off a damaging credit ratings downgrade.