Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Tuesday projected a growth of 7.5-8 per cent for the fiscal 2003-04 in the face of strong economic fundamentals.

India's Growth Projections for 2003-04

"Economic growth indices in the current year are very encouraging. With inflation at 4-4.5 per cent, this year we expect the growth rate of our GDP to be between 7.5-8 per cent, Singh said presenting the Interim Budget for 2004-05 in the Lok Sabha.

Though higher growth estimates have been made, for the present "we prefer to remain with the cited figures," he said.

Noting that the foreign exchange reserves crossed $100 billion in mid December, Singh said they continue to grow.

Giving the Budget estimates for 2004-05, he said the total expenditure is estimated at Rs 457,434 crore (Rs 4,574.34 billion), of which Rs 135,071 crore (Rs 1,350.71 billion) is for Plan and Rs 322,363 crore (Rs 3,223.63 billion) for non-Plan expenditure.

He said the revised estimates show a net decrease in expenditure of Rs 11,143 crore (Rs 111.43 billion) as compared to the Budget estimates. This reduction has been achieved despite additional expenditure on rural development, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Delhi

Metro Rail Project and additional budgetary support for the Railways.

Net tax revenues for the Centre are estimated at Rs 187,539 crore (Rs 1,875.39 billion) as compared to the Budget estimate of Rs 184,169 crore (Rs 1,841.69 billion), an increase of Rs 3,370 crore (Rs 33.7 billion).

Non-tax revenue is estimated at Rs 75,488 crore (Rs 754.88 billion), Rs 5722 crore (Rs 5.722 billion) more than the estimated level of Rs 69,766 crore (Rs 697.66 billion), he said adding divestment receipts, at Rs 14,500 crore (Rs 145 billion), are also higher than the Budget estimate of Rs 13,200 crore (Rs 132 billion).

The revised revenue receipts of the Centre are estimated at Rs 263,027 crore (Rs 2,630.27 billion), the fiscal deficit at Rs 132,103 crore (Rs 1,321.03 billion), which is 4.8 per cent of the estimated GDP, and the revenue deficit at Rs 99,860 crore (Rs 998.6 billion), which is 3.6 per cent of the estimated GDP.

In order to strike the right balance between the developmental needs and fiscal stability, the gross budgetary support for 2004-05 Plan has been fixed at Rs 135,071 crore (Rs 1,350.71 billion).

This is Rs 14,097 crore (Rs 140.97 billion) more than last year, indicating an increase of 11.6 per cent Singh said adding, out of this, Rs 81,367 crore (Rs 813.67 billion) is being provided as budget support for the central Plan.

This, he said, was an increase of Rs 9215 crore (Rs 92.15 billion), or 12.8 per cent over the last year.

Similarly, the central assistance for state plans is Rs 53,704 crore (Rs 537.04 billion), which is Rs 4882 crore (Rs 48.82 billion) more than last year.