INDIA’S new finance minister vowed late Sunday to uphold fiscal discipline, despite pressure on public finances from figures showing the economy grew by less than 5 percent in the fiscal year just ended.

    Investors are looking to see whether Arun Jaitley, also handed the defense portfolio in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government, will allow some slippage on the budget deficit when he presents his first budget in early July.

    In a post on his Facebook page, Jaitley said pulling India out of its current economic malaise would involve “fiscal rectitude as [a] combination of monetary and fiscal policy.

    “Slower GDP growth will imply lower tax buoyancy and [a] higher fiscal deficit,” he added. “We must move towards an era of fiscal discipline where we can reduce the fiscal deficit, contain inflation and improve upon our growth rates.”

    (SD-Agencies)