Federal Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the annual budget in Parliament on Tuesday, the second day of the budget meeting. The high-profile event is seen as crucial to sustaining India’s recovery from the devastation caused by the pandemic.
Sitharaman to present Budget 2022: Track live updates
Sitharaman’s previous budget proposal has a different background. While she proposed a series of reforms in 2019 (months after the BJP won a blockbuster electoral mandate), the next one during the Covid-19 pandemic narrows the range of possibilities.
A third also emerged in the shadow of the pandemic.
The Union Cabinet will meet at 10.10am to approve the budget, which will be presented by the finance minister in Parliament at 11am.
Sitharaman’s fourth budget
The finance minister will present her fourth budget in a row this year and is expected to show the way to normalisation. She is expected to spend more on policies that create jobs, boost manufacturing and benefit the poor.
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Other key figures to watch in the budget include projected tax increases, dividends from the central bank and state-owned enterprises, any changes to import duties as part of the government’s plan to boost manufacturing, and the allocation of subsidies, particularly to fertiliser manufacturers .
What did the economic survey say?
India’s economy is expected to grow by 8-8.5% in 2022-23, according to an economic survey presented to parliament on Monday. It further said that the estimated size of the economy has exceeded its pre-pandemic size.
Chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran told a media briefing that growth forecasts in the survey were more conservative than those of other agencies. The International Monetary Fund forecast on January 25 that the Indian economy will grow by 9% in 2022-23.
Chief economic adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said India’s gross domestic product in 2021-22 is expected to be 1.3% higher than in 2019-20.
What’s more, the economic survey expressed confidence that the government has sufficient fiscal space to support economic activity, eschewing the actual fiscal trajectory for the next fiscal year starting in April, which is the prerogative of the budget.
Complete News Source : Hindustan Times
