(RTTNews) - The Indian rupee edged down against the US dollar in early trading on Monday as traders believed that the maiden budget proposals of India's United Progressive Alliance government for the year 2009-10 failed to meet their expectations. Retreating from last week's 15-day high of 47.565, the Indian rupee dropped to a 10-day low of 48.595 against the greenback around 6:25 am ET. India's Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said the budget for fiscal year 2010 would have a total expenditure of Rs.10,20,838 crore, comprising Rs.3,25,149 crore under Plan and Rs.6,95,689 crore under non-Plan. The total expenditure this year was 36% higher than that in 2008-09. The minister placed a return to 9% economic growth at the earliest, saying that the country had seen off the worst of the global financial crisis. He added that the first challenge was to return to the GDP growth rate of 9% per year at the earliest and the second challenge was to deepen and broaden the agenda for inclusive development. And, the third was to re-organize the government and improve delivery mechanisms. The Finance Minister also projected the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 6.7% and forecast that the GDP would exceed 9% in FY14. He projected the fiscal deficit at 6.8% of GDP up from 2.7% last year while revenue deficit would be 4.8% of GDP. Indian markets reacted sharply to the Budget. Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 14,035.67, down 877.38 points or 5.88 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 13959.44 and high of 15097.87. National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended at 4162.80, down 261.45 points or 5.91 per cent. The broader index touched a low of 4133.70 and high of 4479.80. The Indian rupee has lost more than 2 percent against the US dollar so far today. The dollar-rupee pair that closed last week's trading at 47.905 is currently quoted at 48.58. On the downside, the rupee may likely find target around the 48.7 level.

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