Among the Budgets Nirmala Sitharaman has presented over the past six years, revenue overestimation was a big problem in the Budget for 2019-20, her maiden exercise.
Capital expenditure undertaken hastily to meet year-end targets dilutes the quality of the exercise and undermines the economy's benefits from such investment.
Maharashtra has headroom to spend, but committed expenditure is expected to rise. In Jharkhand, optimistic revenue projections may limit the state govt’s ability to fulfill the promises.
If the fiscal deficit was brought down to 5.6% in 2023-24, it was more because of a cut in revenue expenditure than because of growth in tax collections.
With tax revenue not doing as well as needed, govt has few choices before it: reduce subsidy-led revenue expenditure, cut back on growth-oriented capex, or miss its fiscal deficit target.
The budgeted expenditure doesn’t account for various schemes & announcements that have been made, such as the increase in MSP or the healthcare coverage scheme.
In tactical terms, the shirtless protest was worse than a self-goal. Suddenly, the fiascos of the AI Summit were forgotten, and the Youth Congress’s disruption became the issue.
IAF is fine with accepting the aircraft with 'must-haves', even if some other steps remain pending, which may take at least another year, it is learnt.
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