New Delhi: The Union Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tomorrow may see record spending to stabilize and accelerate economic recovery amid the continuing disruptions of the pandemic.
The government has proposed to spend ₹34.8 trillion in the budget for 2021-22. According to the revised estimates, the government spent Rs 34.5 trillion in 2020-21, which is 13% higher than the budget estimate.
The budget has projected receipts (other than borrowings) at Rs 19.7 trillion in 2021-22, which is 23% higher than the revised estimates for 2020-21. In 2020-21, the revised estimate of receipts was 29% lower than the budget estimate.
According to a Bloomberg report, Nirmala Sitharaman will increase the budget for the next fiscal year by about 14% year-on-year to ₹39.6 trillion ($527 billion), according to the average estimate of surveyed economists.
Sitharaman is also expected to leave tax rates largely unchanged and instead rely on proceeds from asset sales and near-record borrowings of around ₹13 trillion to partially fund the scheme. Do it.
The focus is likely to be on infrastructure spending to bolster the economy, but there are also fiscal constraints that leave little room for concessions for families hit by the pandemic.
There is a general consensus among analysts and economists that the government should prioritize growth over fiscal consolidation.
The government may keep the fiscal deficit target for FY13 above 6% of gross domestic product (GDP) as the country enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indian economy is projected to expand by 9.2% in the financial year ending March, after a contraction of 7.3% in the previous financial year.
first published:Jan. 31, 2022, 11:15 am
,
