New Delhi - India has hiked its expenditure for defence by over 19 per cent in view of the security situation arising after the Mumbai terrorist attacks, according to the interim budget presented in parliament Monday.

"The Mumbai attacks have given a new dimension to cross-border terrorism," acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while presenting the budget. A security threshold had been crossed with these attacks, he added.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : Despite the global financial crisis, which began in 2007 impacting most emerging market economies, 7.1 per cent rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the current year makes India the second fastest growing economy in the world.

The fallout of global slowdown on Indian economy were countered with fiscal stimulus packages announced in December 2008 and January 2009 providing tax relief to boost demand and increasing expenditure on public projects.

New Delhi, Feb 16: In the Interim Budget 2009-10, the total expenditure has been proposed at Rs. 953,231 crore. Of this, Rs. 285,149 crore is under Plan and Rs. 668,082 crore under the Non-Plan sector.

New Delh

New Delhi, Feb 16 : Acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that the turn over of the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) has increased from Rs.
5,87,000 crore in 2003-04 to Rs. 10,81,000 crore in 2007-08 showing a growth of 84 percent.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : An Ordinance was promulgated for establishing 15 central universities and in addition to this, six new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab and Gujarat have started functioning in 2008-09 while two more IITs in Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh are expected to commence their academic session in 2009-10.

This was stated by the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting the Interim Budget 2009-2010 in the Lok Sabha today.