Though Congress leaders have officially touted the welfare measure as the chief means to tackle malnutrition in the country, it fails to provide access to the entire basket of nutrients necessary to effectively improve the nutrition status of the target population.

While noting that the inward shipments of the precious metal resulted in an outgo of $50 billion, the finance minister urged people to help moderate demand for gold further.

Asserting that rupee price will be market determined, Finance Minister P Chidambaram says measures by the Reserve Bank have nothing to do with the upcoming monetary policy review.

At 1.40 pm, Sensex was up 68.01 points at 18787.30. Similarly, Nifty was up 17.45 points at 5673.35 during the same time.

The rupee tumbled to Rs 59.93 against the US dollar early into Thursday's trading, which serves as a measure of India's economic weakness, and the market's fear that policymakers have practically nothing left in their toolkits to defend the currency.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram also says steps taken by the government since August have desired impact on fiscal consolidation and inflation.

The BCCI chief may have temporarily stepped aside for now, but he has trumped various odds in his career.

India-China trade has risen sharply in the last one decade and reached $66 billion in 2012, compared to $3 billion 2000. But the balance of trade has remained highly in favour of China.

Asserting that India has to sort many internal issues, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said containing fiscal deficit, current account deficit and inflation are big challenges that country is facing currently.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, while taking questions on the DMK pullout, also said he will go ahead with his meetings with foreign investors to persuade them to invest in India.

The CBDT said that it has taken cognisance of the sting operation and has begun a probe into it.

The World Bank Group has lent around $26 billion to India between 2009 and 2013. The President of the World Bank Group said the assistance would continue, to the tune of $3-5 billion per annum.

The finance minister's economic legacy runs counter to his image as a friend of big business. In eight Budgets, he has introduced five new taxes - the Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), the Securities Transaction Tax, the Banking Cash Transaction Tax, the Fringe Benefit Tax and the Commodity Transaction Tax.

For all the talk of the United Progressive Alliance government about the seminal step the proposed National Food Security Bill will be in eradicating hunger and malnutrition, Finance Minister P Chidambaram's budgetary allocation for it is paltry.

Chaitanya Kalbag finds UPA II's last Budget to be a curate's egg - good only in parts and not too hard-boiled.

In the worst Budget day show since 2009, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday tanked 291 points to end below 19,000-level, as the government slapped more taxes on companies as well as super-rich and offered little concessions for large investors.

India's chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan says global macro-economic situation is likely to improve this year, aiding the coutnry's economy.

Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said while there will be no changes in reservation charges for second class and sleeper class, the rate for AC chair car would be hiked from Rs 25 to Rs 40 and that of first class from Rs 25 to Rs 50.

Gulf carrier Etihad, which is tipped to acquire 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, on Monday said it would complete due diligence on the Indian carrier within a week and leave it to its board to take a final view on the matter.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the controversial General Anti-Avoidance Rules would not apply to foreign institutional investors, thereby taking participatory notes, or offshore derivative instruments, out of the taxman's purview.