India may cut subsidy bill by 20 per cent in budget

New Delhi: India may slash its food and fuel subsidy bill by 20 per cent, or about $8 billion, in the annual budget to be presented next week, two government sources said. The sources said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was likely to set the total budget for subsidies at about $32 billion, down from $40 billion in the current financial year.

The numbers imply four-fifths or $6.5 billion of the total savings will come from lower fuel subsidy costs. Other subsidy costs will only be cut by around 5 per cent.