On a Pragmatic Note
The first Budget since demonetisation has been a careful exercise by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It caters to the core constituency - farmers and lower income people - while not introducing anything that hurt industry.
- Feb 6, 2017,
- Updated Feb 9, 2017 10:06 AM IST
The first Budget since demonetisation has been a careful exercise by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It caters to the core constituency - farmers and lower income people - while not introducing anything that hurt industry. The increased focus on infrastructure spending at Rs 3.96 lakh crore could over the medium term lead to more jobs at the bottom of the pyramid. On the fiscal front, despite halving income tax rates at the lowest end from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, Jaitley has managed to rein in the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent in 2017/18.
Business Today discussed Jaitley's fourth budget with an elite panel that included Arvind Virmani, President, Chintan and former Chief Economic Advisor; D.K. Srivastava, Chief Policy Advisor, Ernst & Young, Jaijit Bhattacharya, Partner, Strategy & Economics, KPMG; Mukesh Butani, Managing Partner, BMR Legal; Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Research Director, India Development Foundation; Abhijit Sen, former member of the Planning Commission; Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, CRISIL, and Rahul Garg, Partner and Leader, Direct Tax, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Excerpts:
The merger of CPSEs in the same sector is a good move as size matters if these companies have to compete at the global stage. It could also unlock some value for government as a shareholder through these mergers. ~
The first Budget since demonetisation has been a careful exercise by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It caters to the core constituency - farmers and lower income people - while not introducing anything that hurt industry. The increased focus on infrastructure spending at Rs 3.96 lakh crore could over the medium term lead to more jobs at the bottom of the pyramid. On the fiscal front, despite halving income tax rates at the lowest end from 10 per cent to 5 per cent, Jaitley has managed to rein in the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent in 2017/18.
Business Today discussed Jaitley's fourth budget with an elite panel that included Arvind Virmani, President, Chintan and former Chief Economic Advisor; D.K. Srivastava, Chief Policy Advisor, Ernst & Young, Jaijit Bhattacharya, Partner, Strategy & Economics, KPMG; Mukesh Butani, Managing Partner, BMR Legal; Shubhashis Gangopadhyay, Research Director, India Development Foundation; Abhijit Sen, former member of the Planning Commission; Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, CRISIL, and Rahul Garg, Partner and Leader, Direct Tax, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Excerpts:
The merger of CPSEs in the same sector is a good move as size matters if these companies have to compete at the global stage. It could also unlock some value for government as a shareholder through these mergers. ~