Expenditure management panel in offing, Jaitley tells House

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today told parliament that India's fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal year is "daunting", even as he promised to narrow the deficit to 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product in the year to March 2015 from 4.5 per cent a year earlier.

Jaitley told the Lok Sabha that he hoped the Reserve Bank of India might cut rates as inflation is slowing down.

Jaitley said that the government intends to form an expenditure management panel in next few days. He also expressed confidence that the shortfall in the monsoon will be made up in the coming weeks.