Govt loads reforms bazooka for budget

Proposals to power India's medium-term growth spike invited

- Gireesh Chandra Prasad

With the Union budget for FY27 around the corner, India's governance engine is revving up to add more muscle to the slew of reforms initiated earlier this financial year.

The two keywords for finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's ninth budget-deregulation and decriminalization-are being impressed upon all who matter within the government, two persons informed about developments within the government said. The effort is to make the budget a blueprint for faster economic growth over the medium term.

One of the two people said that every ministry and department has been instructed to give proposals for deregulation and decriminalization of laws, rules and procedures. "These are being reviewed and refined at high levels in the government every 10 days," this person said, requesting anonymity.