New  : Finance Minister P Chidambaram unveiled a surge in spending on Thursday, despite expectations of an austerity budget to shore up the government's finances, imposing new taxes on the rich and large companies to fund a daMany private economists expressed scepticism at the Finance Minister's rosy revenue assumptions and were dismayed by the sizeable increase in public spending in a country facing its sharpest economic The extent of the slowdown gripping Asia's third-largest economy was underlined by data released just hours after Mr Chidambaram delivered his Budget for the coming fiscal year, showing gross domestic product growth tumbled to 4.5 per cent in the October-December quarter, its lowest in nearly four years.in a decade.sh for growth ahead of an election due by next year                   
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