NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India must make tough spending choices, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Thursday, even as he unveiled a bigger-than-expected outlay for the coming fiscal year in one of the most highly anticipated Indian budgets of recent years.
Total budget expenditure will hit 16.65 trillion rupees (203 billion pounds) in the fiscal year that begins on April 1, Chidambaram said, despite expectations for cuts from current year levels, which are on track to hit 14.3 trillion rupees, or 96 percent of the budget target.