BECOMING FUTURE-FIT

There is no instant cure for a slowing economy. The idea is to build sustainable, resilient, and equitable growth. Budget 2020 offers a roadmap for this vision.

- Deepankar Sanwalka

AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC slowdown, weak gross domestic product numbers, dipping consumer demand, dented investor sentiment, and acute shortage of jobs, the first Union Budget of this new decade was anticipated to bring in some relief and a sense of direction for the Indian economy. And this made watching the finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech on a Saturday morning (February 1) a national exercise. So, did the Budget meet the nation’s expectations or not?

Assigned with the Herculean task of uplifting the economy from the worst slowdown it has seen in more than a decade, I think the FM did a reasonably good job of showing positive intent and balancing it with fiscal prudence.