India\\\'s new govt unveils reform budget

India’s new government has introduced a reform-minded budget focusing on promoting manufacturing and infrastructure, expanding the tax base and overhauling populist subsidies. The budget for the fiscal year ending March, 2015, is being closely watched as an indicator of whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP-led government will act quickly to deliver on promises to revive stalled economic growth. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday outlined the broad strokes of the plan. He said he would keep the government’s budget deficit at 4.1 per cent of GDP this fiscal year. He said early on in his speech the government would overhaul subsidies to be ‘more targeted’ but gave no details. He also announced raising the limits on foreign investment in the defense and insurance industries to 49 per cent from 26 per cent, according to AP.