Relatively less important bills might go through Parliament but major economic reforms would hit the road block, Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said.

The cumulative hikes of over 300 basis points over the past two years will take almost 18 months to two years to unwind. Economically speaking, there is very limited scope for interest rate relaxation in the 2012-13.

During February, the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India sold 94,118 vehicles, a jump of 7.13 per cent, over the same period last year.

Pranab Mukherjee is not alone in his grief when it comes to India's burgeoning fiscal deficit; finance ministers around the world are losing sleep over governments' mounting expenditure.

Taxpayers would benefit immensely if the finance minister linksthe tax liability to the rate of inflation, and reverts to the peakrate of 25 per cent for corporate and personal incomes as proposed in the firstdraft of Direct Tax Code.

Ahead of the Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is caught between two opposing yet powerful arguments from the power sector.

The finance minister is not expected to pull any rabbit out of the hat, but instead press the gas on another large social-sector scheme - 'food security' targeted at poor people.

It is worth recollecting that in the past, some far-reaching reforms were carried out by shaky governments. Ajit Singh, an unlikely reformer, has done more in three months than other aviation ministers in the last three years.

The UPA-II government is expected to lean further on populist policies and hold back reforms to appease its restive allies. The approach is expected to be reflected in the upcoming Budget.

Five leading thinkers on the economy joined Business Today Editor Chaitanya Kalbag to brainstorm the options facing the finance minister.

As always, our annual survey in partnership with YES Bank on India's best Small and Medium Enterprises was a huge draw.

In the wake of corruption investigations, dysfunctional governance and a growing gulf between politicians and the people, the approaching assembly polls will circumscribe economic policy options.

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