With expectations running high and macroeconomic factors heavily stacked against her, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the most important Budget in the history of this country.
The government has tried to revive the economy with stimulus measures after the debilitating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The citizens are expecting relief on the tax front as the pandemic has affected their income-earning capacities.
The Money9 Budget Conclave in its first panel discussion shared views on how the Finance Minister can help alleviate the woes of the common man. The panel was moderated by Vivek Law, Consulting Editor, Money9.
Edited excerpts:
Rakesh Khar, Editor, Money9: My fervent plea to the Finance Minister is to lay out a massive budget. There are two sentiments: Hope and Need. I appeal to the Finance Minister to alleviate the pain of common man affected by Covid-19. Now with GST, all eyes will be on Direct Taxes. We hope the Finance Minister puts money in the pockets of the common man- so much that people get happy and the ‘Achche Din’ truly begin.
Nalin Mehta, Dean, School of Modern Media: This is a very important budget for the Modi government in particular. Even before the virus, there were structural problems with the economy which the government has to address. From a long-term point of view, I am looking forward to the 15th Commission Report amid the Farm agitation. The last Finance Commission put a 42% ceiling between the state and the Centre, so what this Finance Commission does on that is very important is very important for the larger optics of corporative federalism. There is also a challenge on the border from a political point of view. So Finance Commission is equally important as the budget is for the economy amid coronavirus.
KA Badrinath, Senior Journalist: The Prime Minister has said that the budget is part of a string of measures taken on the economic front. My guess is perhaps we need to moderate our expectation from the budget. We need to be more realistic. But, from medium to long-term- what is the vision the government presents for the economy is very significant. There are few issues for that: The IMF prediction of 11% growth this financial year, the independent consultancies have talked of stock markets hitting about 2.7 trillion. At the World Economic Forum, the PM spoke of infrastrusture pipeline, he proposes to invest $1.4 trillion. So the capital spending will be the focus of the budget.
R Sridharan, Editor, TV9 Kannada: This would be the toughest budget. The biological contagion has reset the world in fundamental ways. We will fundamental reset in the way businesses operate, people’s investment. This will be a far bigger challenge. In Karnataka, 30% of the restaurants in Bengaluru have been shut for good. This is true for SMEs as well. Entrepreneurs have taken a hit and are mired in debt, unsure if they can ever come back. Animal spirits of the economy has been hit. From a signalling point of view, the Government needs to say we are behind you. Say that will give you a chance to come back to what you were doing. From a taxation point of view, what Government can do is very limited.
Yathish Rajawat, Senior Journalist: I see this in the context of three ‘R’s: Resilience, Recovery and Resurgence. The Finance Minister needs to put pressure around schemes that benefit people directly, like PM Krishi Samman Yojana. Resilience is for the banking and corporate sector. Recovery for spending, consumption and demand. All the previous announcements have to be justified. I am hoping for a conclusion of all her announcements. Informal sector is the worst-affected in the pandemic. Hence, I am hoping allocation goes up.
