Food Security Bill in India aggravates fiscal concerns

PREMIUM CONTENT. To continue reading please login, or click on SUBSCRIBE above.

August 28, 2013

NEW DELHI – India’s lower house of Parliament has approved new food subsidies – bringing a range of budget concerns into play. “Notwithstanding its admirable goals of poverty alleviation and more equitable growth, the initiative poses upside risks to the overall food subsidy bill (budgeted at 0.8% of GDP for FY14), at a time when fiscal concerns are adding to weak investor sentiment and contributing to a further weakening of the rupee,” says BBVA Bank.