India is paying the price for trying to do too much in past Budgets, and sectors that have been bled white, such as telecom and govt companies, are worst hit.
At 5%, but India’s economy is still growing. Now imagine if output were to decline, what would the streets look like? That is what Kashmir is going through.
All Budgets face resource restraints, but this one will have to confront them in their full severity. Modest growth figure will force govt to make hard choices.
Fitch said growth will gradually recover to 5.6% in FY21 and 6.5% in the following year with support from easing monetary and fiscal policy and structural measures.
The recent resignations of its seniormost judges are among the most pointed institutional protests Pakistan has witnessed since the lawyers’ movement of the late 2000s.
Without a Congress revival, there can be no challenge to the BJP pan-nationally. Modi’s party is growing, and almost entirely at the cost of the Congress.
I agree with views expressed here. It is not for the first time that the Union Budget has become a topic of a very intense debate. 2. There are so many sectors of economy which need Central government support for getting back to growth ways. 3. Central government has to take several important steps so that our economy gets back to the growth path. In this context my observations are as follows: (a) we have to take steps to be serious about implementation of fiscal disciplinary measures. (b) Increasing tax revenue is one way of prudent financial management. What is observed is that the Central government is simply not able to reduce wasteful expenditure in form of populist subsidies. Even as the Central government makes efforts to increase revenue, all such efforts will not be successful without controlling expenditure. Efforts to control expenditure will have to be made by the state governments too. (c) To minimize scope for tax evasion and to improve fiscal discipline, particularly of indirect taxes, there should be good coordination between the Central and State governments. Unfortunately there is very little cooperation today and that leaves scope for tax evasion. (d) As pointed out by the author in an earlier article, both the Central and State governments will have to adopt commercial systems of accounting on a top priority basis. Once commercial system of accounts is adopted, it would be possible for placing governments’ annual financial statements in the public domain. This step will be a major step forward to improve governance.
An excellent piece. Deficit in Gross Revenue Collections is effect rather than cause of slow down in economy. This is why the huge deficit persists despite improvement in Gross Revenue Collections/ GDP ratio. Over-budgeting should be avoided, so also the knee-jerk solutions. Government should now focus on structural reforms rather than dreaming overnight transformation in the economy. The target of 5 trillion dollar economy is over ambitious and needs to be toned down. Modi may not like it, but he has no magic wand. The country had to be patient and toil hard. There is no easy way.
I agree with views expressed here. It is not for the first time that the Union Budget has become a topic of a very intense debate. 2. There are so many sectors of economy which need Central government support for getting back to growth ways. 3. Central government has to take several important steps so that our economy gets back to the growth path. In this context my observations are as follows: (a) we have to take steps to be serious about implementation of fiscal disciplinary measures. (b) Increasing tax revenue is one way of prudent financial management. What is observed is that the Central government is simply not able to reduce wasteful expenditure in form of populist subsidies. Even as the Central government makes efforts to increase revenue, all such efforts will not be successful without controlling expenditure. Efforts to control expenditure will have to be made by the state governments too. (c) To minimize scope for tax evasion and to improve fiscal discipline, particularly of indirect taxes, there should be good coordination between the Central and State governments. Unfortunately there is very little cooperation today and that leaves scope for tax evasion. (d) As pointed out by the author in an earlier article, both the Central and State governments will have to adopt commercial systems of accounting on a top priority basis. Once commercial system of accounts is adopted, it would be possible for placing governments’ annual financial statements in the public domain. This step will be a major step forward to improve governance.
An excellent piece. Deficit in Gross Revenue Collections is effect rather than cause of slow down in economy. This is why the huge deficit persists despite improvement in Gross Revenue Collections/ GDP ratio. Over-budgeting should be avoided, so also the knee-jerk solutions. Government should now focus on structural reforms rather than dreaming overnight transformation in the economy. The target of 5 trillion dollar economy is over ambitious and needs to be toned down. Modi may not like it, but he has no magic wand. The country had to be patient and toil hard. There is no easy way.