The government will drag the fiscal deficit for 2013-14 down to below 4.8 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP), Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.

Addressing the India Summit conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, Mr. Chidambaram described the government's fiscal deficit target as a red line that the government would never breach.

The Minister also said that he expected the current account deficit (CAD) to be below 5 per cent in the past fiscal.

To tackle CAD, the government may take some steps to arrest imports, as given the growth projections in the global economy it may be quite hard to radically increase exports.

The Minister also tried to dismiss concerns that India's deficit is mainly financed by short-term foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows, which are quire volatile in nature.

He said FIIs in the country had always enjoyed a growth except for one year following the global financial crisis. Speaking on the topic, he added, "The FIIs have invested about USD 11 billion into India year-to-date."

Mr. Chidambaram also reiterated the UPA government's commitment to carry forward the ongoing economic reforms. He ruled out chances of early elections, and stressed that the government would seek cooperation of the BJP-led Opposition to pass important bills in Parliament.