Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is set to kick off his Budget exercise for 2005-06. According to senior finance ministry officials, the expenditure secretary will start discussions with various departments and ministries in the first week of November. The revenue department will meet various industry chambers in December to get an assessment of sectoral taxation issues. The FM will have to strike a fine balance between deficit reduction targets as stated in the FRBM Act and additional expenditure to meet the priorities of the NCMP. —ENS
