New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley began presenting the first national budget for self and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Thursday expressing concerns over economic slowdown while promising steps to ensure a course correction with bold measures.

"People of India have voted decisively for change," Jaitley said. "Steps I will unveil in the budget will aim at 7-8 percent growth over the next three-four years, lower inflation, less fiscal deficit and a manageable current account deficit." The minister said given the state of the economy today, high inflation, low growth and moderate rise in tax collections, the fiscal deficit target of 4.1 percent of India's gross domestic product set by his predecessor P. Chidambaram was a "daunting" task.