-Decoding the Priorities: An Analysis of Union Budget 2020-21, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), February 2020 The publication presents an analysis of the priorities in Union Budget 2020-21, both on public expenditure and resource mobilisation front. It has been divided broadly into five chapters. The first chapter focuses on a host of important aspects under Resource Mobilisation, like domestic tax policy, international taxation policy, financial transparency, and Centre-State...

-The Hindu Concerned over time and quantum of funds to be devolved over the years Even after the Centre accepting the Union Finance Commission’s revenue deficit grant award of Rs. 74,000 crore, the State government is concerned over the time and quantum of funds to be devolved over the years. The concern is largely based on the Centre’s practice of slashing the grant progressively in the previous years. Citing financial constraints, if the...

-Newsclick.in The poor, salaried, businesspersons -- all are unhappy. For, the underlying macroeconomics is wrong – the finance minister is trying to solve the aggregate demand problem by supply-side economics. The annual budget of the Union government was placed in Parliament on the February 1, 2020. In the very beginning of her second budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that “this is the Budget to boost their (people of India) incomes...

-The Hindu ‘Allocation to job-intensive sectors cut’ “Every single number in the Budget is a lie,” Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said in Mumbai on Sunday of the Union Budget. India’s current slowdown is worse than that of 1991 and 2008, and the Budget has cut allocations to all employment-intensive sectors, further adding to the mess, said Ms. Ghosh, one of the world’s leading development economists. “All the...

-The Hindu The economic outlook rests on government meeting investment targets and keeping promises made to stakeholders There were many expectations from the Union Budget 2020: that it would reverse the falling growth rate, reduce unemployment and rekindle the animal spirits needed to revive private investment. Does the Budget really hold out the promise on these counts? To answer the question, the Budget can be judged in terms of its effect...