Lower interest rates needed to boost manufacturing, officials say.
'If such inflows materialise, what will be the effect on the rupee's value -- and therefore on exports growth, the only sustainable path to recovery?', asks Mihir S Sharma.
There appears to be a growing perception among the political class that faster growth will not create jobs fast enough and, therefore, welfare spending needs to be drastically increased, says T T Ram Mohan.
A strong showing will be vital to Narendra Modi's chances of a second term.
What might be useful is targeted assistance to those sectors and individuals that are disproportionately affected, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
There is a link between objectives and commitments.
Stating that a weak fiscal position continues to constrain India's sovereign ratings, Fitch said the next government's medium-term fiscal policy will be of particular importance from a rating perspective.
The industry's reactions to the Budget have been mixed.
'It is important to improve the quality of spending.'
India suffers from peak power deficit of three per cent.
'If you do quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, someone earning Rs 10 lakh can get a benefit of anywhere between Rs 35,000 and Rs 45,000, even if s/he is availing exemptions.' 'A large proportion of people do not avail full exemptions as they don't have money to invest in those schemes.'
This is the first "Green budget" of the government for effective containment of pollution in the city, the deputy chief minister said in the budget session of the assembly in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday tabled the Economic Survey 2021-22 along with Statistical Appendix in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the Budget session of Parliament. Later, the Lok Sabha was adjourned till tomorrow. The Economic Survey will now be tabled in the Upper House. The Budget Session of the parliament commenced on January 31 with President Ram Nath Kovind's address. The first part of the Budget session of Parliament will be held from January 31 to February 11 and the second part of the Budget session will take place from March 14 to April 8.
'No one cares about fiscal deficit now. Or for that matter, inflation.' 'The focus is on growth and growth alone.' 'RBI needs to break the risk aversion of banks and infuse adrenaline in their veins', says Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
When Nirmala Sitharaman announced her new privatisation policy, there were serious doubts if the move had the BJP's full political backing. All those doubts were dispelled when her initiatives were endorsed by Modi in Parliament, observes A K Bhattacharya.
The ripples from November 8 may be seen in next year's state budgets.
'This solid verdict would further strengthen his resolve to drive forward the economic agenda to ensure that the fruits of the economic momentum continue to reach the poor, so visible during the last five years.'
Whether this remains under control in the coming months will depend on the future intensity and spread of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the effectiveness of the Indian government's response, points out A K Bhattacharya.
'We will not compromise on it. We will not make any deferred payments or cuts.'
Officials asked what the point was in going through banks when the government has to give guarantees.
This is the BJP's first full-year Budget.
Budget 2015 has blessed the banking sector.
An announcement has barred the entry of journalists in the finance ministry.
The Centre on Monday earmarked a separate Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres to tackle air pollution and announced the much-awaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and polluting vehicles, even as it shrunk the budgetary allocation for the environment ministry from the last fiscal by nearly eight percent. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech for 2021-22, announced a total of Rs 2869.93 crore for the ministry, Rs 230 crore less than the last fiscal. Officials said the outlay has been lesser this time as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
'In a serious fiscal situation like this, an ostrich-like focus on annual budgeting, event management and defensive rhetoric will only make matters worse,' warns Rathin Roy.
The Narendra Modi government's alacrity in promoting ease of tax administration, a critical component in the ease of doing business index, has set in motion several incremental policy and administrative reforms, says Mukesh Butani.
As for structural reform, there are signs if one looks hard enough.
'... the government provides adequate cash and kind support for the poorest of the poor for survival... ...conditional cash and skilling support for the economically poor to raise their incomes to adequate levels... ...and make functional arrangements for providing unemployment allowance to the vulnerable poor during disasters like the present one.'
'One way of doing this could be offering credit guarantee to the banks, say 10 per cent, for fresh loans given to micro, small and medium enterprises,' observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
In less than five months of resuming charge of the finance ministry, Palaniappan Chidambaram has put in place virtually a new team to take charge of the government's fiscal policy management in the remaining months of its tenure. Will the celebrated economists and IAS officers share the required equation remains to be seen.
The govt said Rs 30,729 crore was required for waiving loans of small and marginal farmers.
''Even without major reforms, with a business as usual scenario, and with current inflation trends, we should be clocking around 11 to 12 per cent nominal growth.' 'That is not happening and is a source of worry,' Rathin Roy tells Arup Roychoudhury.
'Will Mr Jaitley listen, or is that expecting too much in pre-election season?' asks T N Ninan.
West Bengal has received total investment proposals worth around Rs 2.43 lakh crore spread across sectors like education, health, mining, steel, infrastructure and financial services during the two-day Bengal Global Business Summit, which concluded in Kolkata on Thursday.
This permission was given some time late last month, before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on March 31 issued the indicative borrowing calendar for the states for April-June and the one for the Centre for April-September.
Analysts have started talking about at least a 25 bps cut immediately.
The panel will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for the central and state governments, study the impact of GST on the divisible pool, and propose performance-based incentives for states.
Fitch reaffirmed India's rating at 'BBB-' with a Stable Outlook saying the rating balances a still strong medium-term growth outlook compared with similar category peers and relative external resilience stemming from solid foreign-reserve buffers against high public debt, a weak financial sector and some lagging structural factors, including governance indicators and GDP per capita.
The employment situation remains dire. Whatever can be done to promote greater low-skill employment should be pursued aggressively, advises former chief economic adviser Shankar Acharya.
Overall, the Survey warned that unless shifts in the vision of development were articulated and embraced, the Indian economy would lose the chance to move to a high-growth trajectory.
