Observing that the thrust of economic reforms should shift from capitalist profit to people's welfare, Left parties on Thursday sought a hike of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) in the central plan outlay to step up public investment in agriculture, employment generation and education and health sectors.

Emerging out of a two-hour-long meeting of the Left-UPA Coordination Committee in New Delhi, CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said, "The thrust of reforms must shift towards people's welfare rather than capitalist profit and this shift, we hope, will be reflected in the Budget."

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said his government had "greatly benefited" from the discussion with leaders of Left parties on a 12-point note they had submitted on the Budget a few weeks ago.

Both, however, refused to divulge details of the discussions between the government leaders and the Left quoting "budgetary secrecy".

Besides the two the meeting was attended by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, CPI(M) General Secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, CPI leaders A B Bardhan and D Raja, Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (RSP).