Budget 2019-20: Good Intents But Not Matched By Measures

If the present is not beautiful, the future will be – is how Nirmala Sitharaman has prefaced her maiden Budget.

- Tushar K Mahanti

She has talked of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 – something PM Modi often advocated in the past. She spoke of taking electricity to every house in the country. Above all, she pledged to make India a five trillion dollar economy by 2025.

India is slated to become a three trillion dollar economy in the current year and by that trend it is possible to make India a five trillion dollar economy by 2025. But for that, the FM has to take measures to bring the economy back to high growth trajectory. India has to grow 8% annually to achieve the target. But India’s GDP growth slumped to a five-year low of 6.8% in 2018-19 and is estimated to grow by about 7% this year.

The question is: Has she taken enough measures in her Budget to stimulate growth?

What one gathers from her Budget speech is that she has largely followed the path of her predecessors. She said, “At the centre of everything that we do, we keep gaon, garib, aur kisan (village, poor and farmers).” A ministry-wise analysis does suggest that agriculture and new and renewable energy are the top two gainers, with their budget allocations in fiscal 2020 significantly higher than in the past five years. The allocation to the Ministry of Agriculture, for example, was 223% higher in 2019-20 compared to the yearly average allocation during 2014-2019. The allocation for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has gone up by 97% in 2019-20 compared to the yearly average allocation during 2014-2019.