Human Signature

While last year’s theme was pro Rural, pro Agriculture and pro Woman budget and there was no significant takeaways for middle class. The election mode is ON and it was clear that the government wanted to use this opportunity which is one of the last opportunities before them to send positive messages to its core voters.  The tax sops given to the middle class and salaried employees makes it a friendly budget.   Fiscal prudence prevailed as the fiscal deficit was stated to be contained at 3.4%. Unarguably there were two main themes: Key Numbers ·        India’s Economic Size: $ 2.6 trillion (India to become $5 trillion economy in 5 years) ·        Total expenditure of this year’s Budget: 27.84 lakh crore ·        GDP Expected (2018-19): 7.2% ·        Fiscal Deficit: 3.4% of GDP ·        Current Accou...

While FM must have an eye on the LS elections  and also the impact of the low vote share % in Saurashtra, one thing which must be applauded that there were no giveaway subsidies and no loan waivers which has been very common in the past. Currently the government is facing number of constraints and challenges like: 1. 40% increase in oil prices over last 6 months 2. Slowdown in growth 3. GST impact 4. Inadequate private investment and distress in agriculture This is a pro Rural, pro Agriculture and pro Woman budget. While the middle class might be disappointed, we must accept the fact that we need to take care of the 90% of the population which lags behind. The fiscal deficit target has been eased at 3.3% of the gross domestic product to accommodate higher demand for expenditure against the earlier target of 3%. While this might disappoint many, one needs to understand that the higher target is set in a country which has introduced bank re-capitalizati...

This budget recognised that demonetisation had brought some hardship to people. So it tried to mitigate that as much as possible, with some rural schemes and reduction in taxation for low income people. Judging a budget almost eventually always comes down to personal views and opinions based on how the budget impacts that person. Having said that, I feel this was a good budget which has addressed a portion of the general populous which has been overlooked for a few years now, i.e. the rural class. The Budget offered thrust to core areas (agriculture, infrastructure, the financial sector, and so on) and fiscal prudence. The commitment to maintain fiscal discipline while continuing with rural and infrastructure spending is a positive outcome. Government pegs fiscal deficit target at 3.2 per cent for 2017-18 While 2017’s budget touched on many areas, there were Four Key Themes : The focus is on ease...