Electoral politics could extract too high a price

Will the budget for 2025-26 see India's government stick to its stated fiscal consolidation goal? Or will the demands of Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and political largesse get in the way?

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With less than a fortnight to go before India's budget for 2025-26, all eyes are on finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Apart from all the usual reasons, this budget has special relevance, as it is the first full-year fiscal plan after last summer's Lok Sabha elections. It comes after the interim budget on 1 February 2024 and the one presented in July for the remaining eight months of 2024-25. The forthcoming budget, thus, is both an opportunity and a challenge for the Narendra Modi government.

While it offers the administration a chance to showcase its achievements of the past eleven years and lay down priorities for the next four, the demands made of it have grown.

Unlike the previous two Lok Sabha terms when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had a majority on its own, Modi 3.0 is dependent on two coalition allies: Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh and Janata Dal (United) of Bihar.