After opening up of FDI in retail and raising diesel prices, the Finance Minister Chidambaram says, he plans more changes in capital markets, insurance, banking and infrastructure in the next few weeks. In an interview to a TV channel in Tokyo, he indicated that the Budget for next year will focus on cutting wasteful expenses and promoting investments. But, the government's key social welfare programmes will be fully protected.

On the warnings by global agencies about the possibility of the country's rating being downgraded, Chidambaram said, he was absolutely certain that India's credit rating won't be downgraded. He said, the rupee has appreciated about 5 or 6 percent in the last few weeks and it must appreciate a little more to find its reasonable and true level. He said a further rise in the rupee will help to curb the increase in costs. The central bank cannot be expected to bear the burden of containing inflation by itself, he said.

Addressing the IMF-World Bank annual meet later, Chidambaram said, high global commodity prices, particularly of energy pose a major risk to India's growth and inflation. He expressed concern over uncertainty in global economy and said the sharp rise in global food prices is another major challenge.

AIR correspondent reports that, in the face of rising food, fertiliser and fuel subsidies, containing high fiscal deficit is a key challenge for the government. Though the fiscal deficit target for 2012-13 has been pegged at 5.1 per cent of the GDP economists feel that it may be difficult for the government to stick to the Budget estimates.