New Delhi: Many states have sought as much as Rs20,000 crore from the Union government to tide over the impact of the economic slowdown, minister in charge of the finance ministry, Pranab Mukherjee said in a written reply to Parliament on Thursday.

A panel of state finance ministers has sought additional funds for the construction of roads, utilities, bridges and other infrastructure in their states, Mukherjee said.

The governments of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala, Goa and Uttarakhand have separately written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking additional funds for their respective states.

—Bloomberg

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Moody’s says GDP estimate too optimistic

Mumbai: Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday said that the government’s advance gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate for fiscal 2009 at 7.1% “seem too optimistic”, and that the fiscal budget was a “little disappointing”.

Instead, Moody’s economist for India Sherman Chan forecast a growth rate of 6.8% for fiscal 2009 and 6.1% for the next year.

In a research report, Chan said that although the government is right in projecting a moderation in manufacturing, from 8.2% to 4.1%, and construction from 10.1% to 6.5%, “the pace of slowdown should be sharper given the slump in exports and a cooling real estate sector.”

—Anup Roy