-The Indian Express Government’s claim that structural changes to the economy are paying off, and that is being used to give back to the people, is problematic. The Interim Union Budget 2019 is no less than a full budget with changes in taxation and announcement of lucrative schemes for various sections of the population. The recent losses in three major assembly elections rang alarm bells for the ruling dispensation. With the...
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A costly short-term borrowing: Dip into small savings -Sunny Verma
-The Indian Express The NSSF collects funds through small savings schemes, such as Post Office Savings Account, National Savings Time Deposits, National Savings Recurring Deposits, National Savings Monthly Income Scheme. It is a costlier form of borrowing for the government as compared to market loans. New Delhi: AN INCREASED reliance on the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) and issue of recapitalisation bonds has helped the government to improve its fiscal affairs...
More »Square pegs, round holes -Amartya Lahiri
-The Indian Express Possibly the most problematic aspect of evaluating the budget is the opaqueness of the underlying data. The interest in this year’s Union budget had been high for obvious reasons. It being an election year, there were expectations of a major spending package focused on struggling sectors such as agriculture. The budget didn’t disappoint as the finance minister announced an income support programme for farmers, raised the tax-free income...
More »Education and Employment Drew Blanks in the Interim Budget -Kiran Bhatty
-TheWire.in The new vision wants youth to figure out education and skills on their own but still expects them to be the drivers of economic progress. Piyush Goyal, presenting the interim budget, called it a road map for peoples’ development – a fitting description for an election year budget. Accordingly, it contained the expected sops to farmers (income support), to the middle class and home owners (increase in income tax and rental...
More »Managing the stimulus -Neelkanth Mishra
-The Indian Express The income transfer scheme was the highlight of the budget. But its success will need deft manoeuvring. Like in each of the previous two years, the run-up to the budget this year was rife with fears of significant fiscal slippage if the government caved in to political compulsions. And like in prior years, these fears turned out to be exaggerated. The decline in fiscal deficit ratios has indeed...
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