Investors are looking for action beyond the budget

Economists will have their eye on the fiscal deficit the finance minister will project for FY14 on Thursday, and fiscal purists will examine whether the numbers make any sense at all—Citi economists, for instance, reckon a R70,000 crore deferral of subsidy payments is on the cards for achieving the 5.3% fiscal deficit target for FY13 itself. Practical businessmen, on the other hand, will be looking for signs of stability in taxation practices—will the FM roll back the retrospective taxation, or Vodafone amendment, brought in by his predecessor and will he make any announcement on going slow on the rash of transfer pricing cases made out by the taxman in companies as diverse as Shell and Nokia?

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