According to finance minister Jaswant Singh, the fiscal deficit for the year ending March 2004 will be Rs 153,637 crore (5.6 per cent of the gross domestic product). He announced several measures to promote investment and give a further fillip to capital markets.

Mr Singh said the total expenditure in 2003-04 will be an estimated Rs 438,795 crore, of which Rs 120,974 crore will be for plan expenditure and Rs 317,821 crore for non-plan expenditure. The estimated plan expenditure is Rs 7,470 crore, higher than last year. The estimated non-plan expenditure last year: Rs 289,924 crore.

Mr Singh imposed an additional excise duty of Rs 1.50 per litre on light diesel and 50 paise cess per litre on diesel and motor spirit along with a three-tier excise duty structure and reduction of peak customs duty from 30 per cent to 25 per cent.

The new proposals on direct taxes will result in a revenue loss of Rs 2,955 crore while the proposals on indirect taxes will result in gain of Rs 3,294 crore.