Budget 2018 misses deficit target, FM taxes stock investors to woo votes

Apart from higher spending on farmers, Jaitley also announced tax breaks for small companies but brought back a levy on stock gains

India will miss its budget deficit targets as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks to placate angry rural voters and create jobs before national elections next year. The government also ended a tax break on certain equity investments.

The budget shortfall will be 3.5 percent in the year ending March 31, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told lawmakers in New Delhi Thursday, wider than the previous 3.2 percent target. The government will aim for 3.3 percent next year rather than its earlier 3 percent goal. Most economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted 3.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

"We have taken