A New, Equitable Tax Code

FM's Budget speech earmarked 'taxation' as a dominant pillar to guide India through a reformatory phase

- MUKESH BUTANI

OUTLAYS, OUTCOMES, and outposts the triumvirate of 'O's, which determine major microfinance decisions, are interlinked with an economy's power to leverage self-sufficiency and ascendancy. In a tumultuous global disposition ridden with economic downturns and the US action on tariff structures, evident fall in most economic parameters on demand, investment and a slight dip in corporate tax collection, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had multiple challenges. On February 1, the matrix for her eighth consecutive Budget was unblemished: the document should transcend from policy prescriptions to bold affirmative action, signalling relief to the middle class and a message for continuity of reforms with the overarching theme of 'Viksit Bharat'. The Budget announcements predicate four luminescent considerations for India: consolidating avenues for FDI inflows, measures to augment employability, foolproofing against externalities and geopolitical shocks, and reimagining the blueprint for ease of business.