Road Map for Viksit Bharat

The NDA government must fundamentally repurpose expenditures, tweak the tax regime, and retain only life-changing welfare measures

- SUBHASH CHANDRA GARG

THE NATIONAL Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by a vastly experienced Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will present its first regular Budget of the third term this month.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Interim Budget in February, had promised to present the road map for Viksit Bharat (Developed India) in this upcoming one. What is the vision of Viksit Bharat? What fundamental policy framework and programmes will be needed to lay the foundation and road map?

VISION OF VIKSIT BHARAT

India will not become viksit (developed) by becoming the third largest economy if the people of the country don't earn enough to afford a decent living.

The best way to define Viksit Bharat is to adopt the goal of making India a high-income country.

The World Bank classifies a country as high-income if its average per capita income exceeds $13,846 a year. As many as 83 countries are currently in this bracket. Fifty-four countries are in the upper middle-income bracket ($4,466-13,845). India is not in these two categories.

With a per capita income of about $2,500, India is part of the lower middle-income group of 54 countries ($1,136-4,465), along with its South Asian neighbours.

To coincide with 100 years of Independence, we must deliver on the goal of making India a highincome country by 2050 to make it truly viksit. This will also provide a reasonable window of 25 years, across five governments, to realise the vision.

REPURPOSE EXPENDITURES

Expenditure policies in the second term of the Modi government were built around four basic pillars.