Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fifth Budget, and the present BJP-led government’s final full-fledged one before next year’s general election apparently ticks all the right boxes. It has elements of inclusive development that ensures prosperity for all, especially the youth, women, farmers, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It also focuses on infrastructure and investment that serves as a multiplier for growth and employment. The latest budget sets policies to enable green and environmentally sustainable growth. Rationalisation of direct taxes, including a raft of concessions to the middle and salaried classes, and pensioners, was one of its key attractions. The goal, it was said, was one: fiscal consolidation. Per capita income, Sitharaman claimed, had more than doubled to Rs 1.97 lakh as a result of the economy’s growth to being the world’s fifth-largest and the government’s efforts to ensure a better quality of living for all. With an eye on ‘India at 100’, the Budget proposals, she said, were aimed at actualising a “technology-driven and knowledge-based economy with strong public finances, and a robust financial sector”. Emphasising that the economic agenda for achieving this vision would require a focus on giving a strong impetus to growth and job creation, she laid out her Budget proposals that were heavy on this government’s trademark acronyms describing the various schemes, but relatively light on details. PM VIKAS, for instance, would for the first time offer traditional artisans and craftspeople, or Vishwakarmas, a package of assistance aimed at helping them improve the quality, scale and reach of their products. However, she failed to give details on financial outlay and the mechanics of implementation. There were changes in income taxation and their biggest beneficiaries are likely to be people from the highest income bracket, in which the effective rate has been cut by 3.74 percentage points, reinforcing a perception that this government cares more for the rich.
