General budget

The Finance minister of India introduced the annual budget of the union in Parliament, the last working day of February. The budget must be adopted by the Lok Sabha before it can enter into force on 1 April, the start of the fiscal year in India. The EU budget is preceded by an economic study which defines the thrust of the budget and the economic performance for the outgoing financial year. This economic study involves all the various NGOs, women's organizations, businesses, associations of the elderly etc.

India's union budget for 2005-06 was estimated pay Rs.5, 14344 crores ($ 118 billion). Earnings from taxes amounting to Rs 2.73466 crore ($ 63b). India's fiscal deficit stood at 4.5%, or 1.39231 crore ($ 32b). The fiscal deficit should be 3.8% of GDP, by March 2007.

Currency system

Rupee

Indian bank notes representative of MK Gandhi, 1000 The rupee is the highest denomination note printed.The Rupee is the only legal tender accepted by India. The exchange rate as of October 13, 2007 is approximately 39.18 US dollar, a euro 55.56, and 79.82 for a pound sterling. The Indian rupee is accepted as legal tender in the neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan, both of which peg their currency to that of the Indian rupee. The rupee is divided into 100 paise. The highest denomination banknote is the 1000 rupee note the lowest denomination coin in circulation is 25 paise coin.

Exchange rates

Under the system of fixed exchange rate, the value of the rupee has been linked to the British pound sterling until 1946, and after independence, 30% of its foreign trade was determined by sterling. In 1975, according to the system of floating exchange rates, the value of the rupee was pegged to a basket of currencies and was closely monitored by the Reserve Bank of India. Since 2005, its value has been appreciating against the American dollar, the euro and the British pound sterling. Since the liberalisation reforms in the early 1990's, the rupee is fully convertible on trade and the current account.

Labour

The importance of the population puts additional pressure on infrastructure and social services. A positive factor was the large working-age population, which is 45.33% of the population and is expected to increase substantially, due to the decrease in the dependency ratio. The national labour market was strictly regulated by successive governments since the law on workers' compensation was adopted in 1923.