Why FM Will Score

The success of Nirmala Sitharaman's supply-side measures, robust tax numbers and an upbeat industry mean the finance minister has a lot going for her as she readies Union Budget 2022.

- JOE C. MATHEW AND ASHUTOSH KUMAR

UNION MINISTER for finance and corporate affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the last of eight virtual pre-Budget consultations on December 22. Over 120 invitees representing various stakeholder groups from industry, services, infrastructure, agriculture, financial services, capital markets, trade and social sector participated. The prevailing mood was of optimism.

Just two days earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a pre-Budget interaction with chief executives of India’s leading companies at his residence on Delhi’s Lok Kalyan Marg. Kenichi Ayukawa of Maruti Suzuki, Udak Kotak of Kotak Mahindra Bank, T.V. Narendran of Tata Steel, Sanjiv Puri of ITC and Preetha Reddy of Apollo Hospitals attended in person, others joined virtually. On December 17, he hosted a similar interaction with representatives of venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds.

For the past few years, such direct feedback has been a welcome change for businesses, who rarely get such sessions. As they met, one item was missing from the laundry list: the lengthy wish-list for the coming Budget. Instead, the industry noted the growth initiatives following Budget 2021 as Covid raged, expressing hope that the coming Budget will also be growth friendly.