New Delhi, Feb 19 : It is time to talk about Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's upcoming big show and to place it in a historical context.

To begin with, there is something special about the date on which his next budget will be revealed on February 29.

In the last 60 years, the budget has been presented on February 29 on eight occasions.

Chandigarh, Feb 19: Small time entrepreneurs here are doing their best to draw Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's attention towards their problems.

Even as these small-scale industries are the largest employers in the organised sector, the sector laments the government's indifferent attitude towards them.

They are demanding that the government should impose excise duty on the product rather than on the turnover in view of the rising cost of various inputs, including raw materials.

They also demanded reduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) and uniformity in tax rates across the country.

Vidarbha (Maharashtra), Feb 18: Farmers in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, ahead of the annual general budget, harbour huge expectations from Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

Vidarbha, near Nagpur is well-known for high-quality oranges and farmers here expect implementation of special relief packages in the forthcoming budget.

Impoverished farmers are debt-ridden and claim that they are not able to even recover their costs.

Ahmedabad, Feb.

New Delhi, Feb. 12: Union Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has asked state-run banks to ensure that productive sectors of the economy are not starved of credit and to ensure credit flow to the home and consumer durables sectors, which have witnessed some slowdown in recent months.

Chidambaram, who met the chiefs of state-run banks on Tuesday, spoke about credit quality and credit delivery.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised interest rates nine times since October 2004 to make loans more expensive.

New Delhi, Feb 12: Russian Prime Minister Victor A Zubkov on Tuesday met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

Zubkov, who arrived here on a three-day official visit late last night, also met Leader of the Opposition L K Advani.

The visiting Prime Minister is also scheduled to hold delegation level talks with his Indian counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh this afternoon.