Budget will reflect Cong manifesto: Meena

Amid a dismal performance by the manufacturing sector, the new minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena said on Friday that the priorities listed in the Congress manifesto will reflect in the budget.

"Preparations for the regular budget are on... priorities are listed in the manifesto. (These) Will get reflected in the finance minister's budget speech," Meena told reporters after taking charge. The Congress manifesto has promised to put in place measures to ensure growth.

'The focus of the new measures will be to stimulate demand in the domestic economy and to ensure there is more purchasing power in the hands of the people and more liquidity in the hands of the companies,' the manifesto says.

The Congress had also promised to step up public investment in agriculture and infrastructure.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had earlier said he will present the budget in Parliament in the first week of July. Mukherjee had said bringing economy back to a high growth path will be the priority of the government.

The Indian economy charted a better than expected growth of 6.7 per cent during 2008-09, but the manufacturing sector posted a negative 1.4 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2008-09 against 6.3 per cent in the year-ago period.

For the entire fiscal, manufacturing expanded by 2.4 per cent against 8.2 per cent a year ago.