Mukherjee set to present budget for this fiscal

With a cherry-brown briefcase in hand, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived in parliament on Monday to present India's budget for this fiscal with hopes high that his proposals will help put the $1.2 trillion economy back on the high growth track.

Dressed in a spotless white bandhgala suit, the 73-year-old politician will have to draw from his experience of having presented three regular budgets as finance minister between January 1982 and December 1984 to find the resources for a host of pre-election promises made by his Congress party.

Mukherjee had also presented the interim budget earlier this year.

The most difficult task will be to strike a fine balance between the need for additional resources to fund the welfare schemes for the masses and minimising the burden on the average citizen and industry.

This apart, with most ministries having set their 100-day agenda at the instance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, allocations for many of the outlined schemes and programmes are also expected to be addressed in the budget.