INDIAN Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled a budget for the poor yesterday, announcing new rural aid and health programs in a strategy shift that could boost his ruling party in coming state elections.

    Presenting his third budget, Jaitley described Asia’s third-largest economy as a bright spot in a gloomy landscape and reiterated a forecast that it would grow by 7.6 percent in the fiscal year that is drawing to a close.

    But he said the government wanted to ensure that the benefits of growth were more widely shared by India’s 1.3 billion people.

    “We have a shared responsibility to spend prudently and wisely for the people, especially for the poor and downtrodden,” the 63-year-old finance minister, who wore a powder-blue jacket, said in his opening remarks to lawmakers.

    The spending package for the 2016/17 fiscal year from April 1 marks a radical shift from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initial focus on investing in infrastructure in a bid to kickstart private-sector investment that remains weak.

    Jaitley described his three priorities as: strengthening India’s firewalls by ensuring macroeconomic stability and prudent fiscal management, driving growth through domestic demand and reforms to boost economic opportunity.

    Key areas of policy focus would be farming, social reforms, infrastructure and recapitalizing India’s banking system.

    Modi’s landslide election victory in 2014 raised hopes he would draw a line under India’s socialist past, cut welfare and reduce the government’s role in business. (SD-Agencies)