Finance minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said there was a need to avoid large-scale tax exemptions, as the government is now on the path of fiscal consolidation. But in the same breath, he said there was need to give some subsidy for food, fuel and fertiliser.

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Chidambaram said the extent of subsidy would be determined by the state of the economy. The finance ministry had a couple of months ago revised fiscal deficit target 2012-13 to 5.3%.

Dismissing skepticism that the government was likely to overshoot this target, Chidambaram said the figure was ‘doable.’ The government is looking to narrow the fiscal deficit to a combination of spending cuts and increasing revenues.