THE BOOSTER BUDGET
IN 91 MINUTES—her shortest Budget speech delivered since assuming charge in 2019—the country’s first full-time woman finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, outlined her government’s path for solving major economic challenges. The address was business-like and bereft of the usual long quotes. In the end, the proposals enunciated by Sitharaman reiterated the central government’s Barbell strategy and Agile framework amid the uncertainty induced by the Covid-19 pandemic since early 2020. Amply elaborated in the Economic Survey released on January 31, the Barbell part comprises deregulation, reforms and addressing of legacy issues to encourage flexibility and innovation. The second or the Agile framework involves strategies like Atmanirbhar Bharat, productivity-linked incentive (PLI) schemes and investments in renewable energy to build resilience.
By keeping the fiscal deficit target for the next fiscal at 6.4 per cent, the government has tried to pull the capex lever hard to boost growth through an upward revision by a staggering 35.4 per cent, from `5.54 lakh crore to `7.50 lakh crore. Along with grants to states, the actual amount spent
