Budget touches but doesn't feel, speaks but leaves much unsaid

It missed a chance to level the field for citizens vis-a-vis large corporations even as its personal-tax relief may miss the mark

- RAJRISHI SINGHAL

Dispirited by an economic slowdown and stagnant spending power, observers greeted finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's beribboned tax breaks with a combination of euphoria and hope. There was elation because tax breaks could mean more money to spend and save; there are also expectations that this time will be different, because past experience shows that good budgetary intentions can be scotched by hidden small-print or an unexpected surge in inflation.

But disappointment lay elsewhere. The budget failed to go the distance in offering taxpayers long overdue justice by evening out the skewed power balance between individuals and the corporate sector. At the same time, it might be worth acknowledging that the near-universal appreciation of the budget's generous overture to salaried income-tax payers is also leavened with some degree of scepticism. This is because of its in-built limitations: it can perhaps reverse some of the stagnation in consumption, even while partially scoring some electoral goals in immediate elections, but does not seem designed to create a stepchange in either consumption or financial savings.