The funny thing is that the government has the money - but it is going into subsidies that Mr Jaitley has chosen to leave untouched.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley talks to T N Ninan.
So far, there seems to be limited debate about their activities in India, where virtually all FAANG companies have teamed up in different ways with India's most powerful businessman, observes T N Ninan.
The question in Maruti's relationship with its parent company, Suzuki, is whether the Japanese company intends to treat its minority Indian shareholders fairly.
Taking up the speeds of inter-city Shatabdi Express trains from the present average of 70-75 km/hour to about 100 km/hour will cut the Mumbai-Ahmedabad travel time from seven to five hours.
>The farmers will go home but the country will not get the agricultural reform it badly needs -- if nothing else, then to prevent a bigger water crisis than already exists, argues T N Ninan.
The law may be good politics, but politics without grounding in basic economics is the surest guarantee of economic disaster.
The people in both places have lived in a state of denial, refusing to accept the bald fact that resorting to violence against an infinitely superior force is suicidal, observes T N Ninan.
What is missing in the government are people with enough weight in the system who can give quality economic advice, and offer subject expertise, says T N Ninan.
It is odd how governments don't learn from their predecessors' mistakes, says T N Ninan.
How long will the RBI allow the government to borrow cheaply? A change in policy direction will see rates climb and bond values fall. Investors in debt funds are therefore at risk, as are people invested in the heated stock market, warns T N Ninan.
The disconnect with the AAP is that its economic agenda sounds suspiciously like Indira Gandhi's of the early 1970s: more subsidies, higher taxes, regulation of private school fees, free water, et al.
The original big boys (Tata, Birla, Ambani) were not the stars of the decade.
Focusing on low GDP growth in recent years, therefore, masks the deeper crisis facing manufacturing and mining.
Both India and China talk now of self-reliance when their external trade, in relation to GDP, has been falling for some years, points out T N Ninan.
Every option before the finance minister comes with a price tag, observes T N Ninan.
Forget the big-ticket stuff, for years we have not even been able to dredge Mumbai harbour so that submarines can move in and out round the clock, rues T N Ninan
If P Chidambaram's Budget speech was an hour-long attempt at presenting his government's and his own record in a good light - as he is perfectly entitled to do - such a "marketing" effort invites the recounting of an alternative retelling of the record.
If credit card delinquency spells trouble, there may be questions with regard to the much bigger retail sub-categories of car and housing loans, notes T N Ninan.
The relatively poor performance of government-owned banks comes at a cost to taxpayers.
The poor quality of the initial statistics must take some of the blame for the flak that the government has been getting; growth rates have been recorded as plunging more than they may in fact have.
Bangladesh might overtake India this year by per capita income in nominal dollars, but it is not yet close to becoming South Asia's economic powerhouse anytime soon, T N Ninan points out.
There will be uncertainty about outcomes,but one must hope for the best, observes T N Ninan.
In March 2012, the rupee was about 51 to the US dollar - not much cheaper than it was a decade earlier.
All those who have been dismayed by the food security ordinance should thank Manmohan Singh and his colleagues for a neat optical trick, says T N Ninan.
'The border stand-off and the uncertainties that come with it should be a wake-up call on what makes for real rather than illusory power,' observes T N Ninan.
Business has paid a pittance for farmers' land, indulged in widespread illegal mining, and cheated on 'green' commitments.
The market is holding up pretty well in the face of a lot of bad news.
These six people have created a political climate more difficult for business, indeed more hostile to business, than at any time since the mid-1980s.
The last three prime ministers who served full terms started out in their early 70s. Mr Modi is younger and fitter than all of them. But he needs to find it in him to change course if he is to beat the odds, notes T N Ninan.
'This encourages escapism through the politics and economics of nationalism, made worse by tribalism or nativism, the package accompanied inevitably by the erosion of institutional bulwarks and therefore State capture by powerful businessmen,' notes T N Ninan.
The one fact of life that will be unchanged into the foreseeable future is that India will remain hugely import-dependent for energy, while rival countries are booking sources of supply, or blocking other sources through trade embargoes.
Most people don't know that India is an agricultural power in world markets, says T N Ninan.
When he speaks of them, it is either in denial or to highlight successes that are only part of a larger story that is worrisome in its totality, observes T N Ninan.
There will be even less Teflon left if the court asks the joint secretary concerned in the Prime Minister's Office to testify who instructed him to vet the CBI's report to the court, says T N Ninan
The country has learnt that corruption in defence deals is a fact of life, and has to be dealt with maturely, says T N Ninan
Opening up India's market to neighbouring countries can be as strategic as access denial to others. The game should be played both ways, even if it upsets domestic business lobbies, observes T N Ninan.
Bill Clinton's address had lessons for both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi, says T N Ninan
'Food security' will, unfortunately, become a giant boondoggle.
Tarun Das and T N Ninan offer their prognosis for US-India momentum on the economic front
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