The interim 2024-25 budget of the Union government of India presented on 1 February 2024 is a constructive step towards a Viksit Bharat by the end of Amrit Kaal in 2047. The government’s vision for Viksit Bharat as stated by the finance minister in her Budget Speech is that of “Prosperous Bharat in harmony with nature, with modern infrastructure, and providing opportunities for all citizens and all regions to reach their potential."
Mukul Asher Introduction In presenting the 2023-24 Union Government Budget, the Finance Minister stated that this is the first year of India’s Amrit Kaal, the 25-year period ending in 2047 when India will complete 100 years of independence. In the…
It is a privilege to deliver the inaugural address for the Conference on Public policy Research, Pedagogy, and practice organized by the Delhi School of Public Policy and the Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi. In any discipline, particularly in the social sciences and in professional programs, research, pedagogy, and practice need to be tailored to the emerging context and challenges which the discipline needs to help understand and address. The title of my address has the terms “Reimagining Public Policy”. It also stresses “Emerging Global and Domestic Trends”.
The progress of India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST), based on taxing value-addition, introduced as a dual tax levied by both the centre and the states, in a short period since 2017 when it was introduced, has been commendable. The GST has helped India progress towards the vision of ‘one nation, one sales tax’; and has helped reduce transaction costs of businesses at all levels, while facilitating lower logistics costs toward greater global competitiveness. To implement GST, a Constitutional amendment was needed as in the then-existing Constitution, there was no provision for levying sales tax on goods by the Union government, and the states could not levy sales tax on services.
This article discusses the overall global and domestic context in which India’s 2023-24 Budget will be presented on Wednesday 1 February 2023. The overall context sets the broad boundaries the Budget and its specific proposals must be viewed. It should be noted that while the Union Government’s Budget presentation (along with accompanying documents such as The Economic Survey, Finance Bill, Memorandum Explaining the Provisions of the Finance bill, Statement of Fiscal Policy under the FRBM, Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management, Act, 2003, and others) is customarily the prime economic event of the year, Union Government’s economic and fiscal policy initiatives are undertaken throughout the year. Therefore, the Budget should not be taken in isolation. Professional analysts would not rely on just the Budget Speech to assess the Budget of a particular year.
Consistent with India’s new generation of intertwined economic and security agreements to facilitate its emergence as one of the major powers, India has invited President El Sisi of the Arab Republic of Egypt (henceforth Egypt), as a Chief Guest for the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2023. There is significant scope for mutually beneficial cooperation in international trade and in macroeconomic and fiscal management between India and Egypt, an influential nation of over 100 million people, straddling Asia and Africa, as explained below.