View: Budget sparkles, minus fireworks

Union Budget: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP secured significant victories in key states, indicating possibilities of keeping the government away from lavish welfare schemes in the upcoming interim budget. Modi's vision for India's future may lead to a budget prioritizing fiscal prudence over excessive spending.

Sitharaman's interim budget takes a conservative approach, focusing on fiscal prudence rather than pre-election giveaways. With a slower pace of capital expenditure and reduced welfare spending, Sitharaman aims to improve India's fiscal deficit. The budget also prioritizes private sector investment and assumes higher GDP growth. While Indians may not see immediate direct benefits, the long-term benefits for India are significant.

Budget News: India's finance ministry targets reducing the fiscal deficit to 4.5 percent by FY26. Analysts anticipate Sitharaman to uphold the government's focus o

The GDP numbers for the second quarter are scheduled to be released on Thursday. The economy grew at 7.8 per cent in the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year. The Budget 2023-24 proposes to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5.9 per cent of the GDP from 6.4 per cent in the previous financial year.

In terms of priorities, the interim budget has continued its focus on raising capital expenditure - the type of expenditure which creates assets (think railways, roads, housing) - at a faster pace compared to revenue expenditure (which is essentially spent on salaries, interest payments, pensions, etc). This strategy has been adopted since the pandemic as the government introduced supply-side reforms to support growth by building economic infrastructure. Since FY21, capex has grown close to 30% on average per annum, compared to 11% growth in revenue expenditure.

India is unlikely to miss its budget deficit target for this fiscal year due to support from the central bank, despite hindrances such as weather, risks from divestment revenue and meek corporate tax collections, economists claim. The banks had tripled their surplus transfer to the government, allowing the state to reap a windfall that ameliorates concerns about any instability in its financial position.

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) The Indian economy will grow around 7 per cent in the current fiscal year and is on track to maintain a similar growth rate for several years, NITI Aayog member Arvind Virmani said on Friday. Virmani said there are new challenges facing the country and they will have to be […]

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed an interim budget of Rs 1.18 lakh crore for fiscal 2024-25 for the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. The budget aims to reduce the fiscal deficit and achieve a 7.5% growth in the GSDP. Sitharaman praised the government's efforts to decentralise governance, promote inclusive development, and increase revenue generation.

Union Budget 2024: India's finance ministry, led by Nirmala Sitharaman, is focusing on fiscal prudence to reduce the fiscal deficit to 4.5% by FY26. The government's focus on infrastructure spending is expected to continue, as high hopes of re-election in April-May 2024 have allowed the government to control populist measures. The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.3% in the current financial year

Budget Announcements: The Indian government plans to borrow 14.13 trillion rupees ($170.36 billion) in the next fiscal year, lower than economists' estimates, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Net borrowings are expected to remain largely unchanged from the current fiscal year, at 11.75 trillion rupees. The funds will be used to finance a fiscal deficit of 5.1% of GDP, with the government also conducting switch auctions worth 1 trillion rupees. Additionally, 4.66 trillion rupees will be raised through India's small savings fund to cover the budget gap.