Montek Singh Ahluwalia, India’s Deputy Commissioner of the Planning Commision, defends the government’s budget, as he said that the high fiscal deficit this year was justified. Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Montek Singh Ahluwalia on CNBC-TV18.

Q: Let me begin by quoting to you what James Lamont, the Bureau Chief of the well-known British newspaper the Financial Times has said of this budget. He says, essentially, it is a tinkering exercise. It is a sort of budget you would expect right at the end of the term of a government, not a budget that reflects the powerful new mandate that the Congress party has just received?