Following the government’s approval to hike Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Kharif crops for 2018-19, Union Minister Arun Jaitley has said the government’s fiscal deficit target would not be breached on account of higher MSP for 14 crops. The government hiked MSP paid to farmers for paddy by a record Rs 200 per quintal and by up to 52 percent in other Kharif or summer-sown crops.
Jaitley further said that the government will be able to absorb the additional expenditure without breaching the fiscal deficit target as large provisioning for food subsidy has already been made in the Budget for current fiscal. He highlighted that the government’s initiative in raising the MSP for 14 crops would enrich and empower the farmer. He also said that added to the social sector and infrastructure investments in the rural areas, the revised MSP will go a long way to raise the quality of life in rural India.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it would cost an additional Rs 15,000 crore to the exchequer. Moreover, in the 2018-19 Budget, the government had provided Rs 1.7 lakh crore towards food subsidy. Besides, the government aims to reduce the fiscal deficit for the current financial year ending March 2019 to 3.3 percent of the GDP from 3.5 percent in the previous fiscal.
Start Research-backed Investing ...Now. Subscribe to Sapphire
MoneyWorks4Me is a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (IA) dedicated to helping investors build long-term wealth through transparent, research-driven, conflict-free guidance. Founded in 2008, we started our journey as a Research Analyst (RA), providing deep fundamental analysis, intrinsic value insights, and long-term investing frameworks for Indian equities. In 2017, we transitioned to a full-fledged SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, strengthening our commitment to acting as a fiduciary—always putting the investor’s interest first.
To become India’s most trusted, research-powered fiduciary advisory platform—where every investor, regardless of experience, can make calm, confident, and well-reasoned investment decisions.
MoneyWorks4Me ensures this through: