Fin Min's ‘Economic Vaccine' comes today

The Budget, experts say, must go beyond being a ‘bahi khata’, as well as canning old schemes in a new bottle

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday will deliver her promised Budget like no other that is expected to provide relief to the pandemic-hit common man as well as focus more on driving the economic recovery through higher spending on healthcare, infrastructure and defence amid rising tensions with neighbours.

As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth Budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.

Sitharaman, who had in her first Budget in 2019 replaced leather briefcase that had been for decades used for carrying Budget documents with a traditional red cloth ‘bahi-khata’, had earlier this month stated that the Budget for the fiscal year beginning April will be “like never before”.

The Budget, economists and experts say, will be the starting point for picking up the pieces after the economic destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And it must go beyond being just a ‘bahi khata’ or a ledger of accounts, as well as canning old schemes in a new bottle.

It has to be a vision statement, a roadmap to get the world’s fastest-growing major economy back on track.