Fix Budget 2012 hole or S&P could downgrade India

Even as the finance ministry feverishly tries to raise resources through fair means or foul - as the ONGC disinvestment saga shows - it is worth asking a counter-question: what would be the consequences of not doing anything to fix the hole in the budget?

Rupa Rege-Nisture, chief economist and general manager of the Bank of Baroda, is clear that sitting on your hands is not an option for Pranab Mukherjee.

If the “fiscal slippage” is not fixed, she warns, the rating agencies could downgrade India since the numbers are scary. “We know that the fiscal deficit-to-GDP ratio could cross 5.8 percent (in 2011-12). If you add state-level finances, the consolidated figure could be as high as 9 percent,” she told Firstpost’s Rajanya Bose in an exclusive video interview.

Watch the whole Firstpost interview here.

****See more Budget 2012 videos and expert views on Firstpost:**** Ajay Shah , Indranil Pan , Surjit Bhalla, Ashima Goyal , Jim Walker , DK Joshi , Ajit Ranade , Art Woo .

See more Budget 2012 issue based videos on Firstpost: Subsidies , Fiscal Deficit , Inflation , Taxation .