The IMPRI Center for the Study of Finance and Economics (CSFE), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, hosted an interactive panel discussion on the topic “The Amrit Kaal and Union Budget 2023-24” on 2 February 2023, under the IMPRI 3rd Annual Series of Thematic Deliberations and Analysis of Union Budget 2023-24, as part of IMPRI #WebPolicyTalk.
The Amrit Kaal and Union Budget 2023-24 | Panel Discussion | #TowardsAccountability #IMPRI Center for the Study of Finance and Economics (CSFE), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi invites you to an IMPRI #WebPolicyTalk series: The State of Public Finance…
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.
The Union Budget for 2023-24 has come at a time when the economy is ostentatiously doing well but is facing challenges both internally and externally. The unorganised sector is suffering due to the policies the government has been pursuing for some time. Externally, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing ‘New Cold War’ are adding to the problems. Both these challenges needed to be addressed in the Budget. Unfortunately, that is not in evidence.
Telling the truth to power is, of course, the job of journalists. But it used to be the case that the pre-Budget Economic Survey took pains to highlight challenges (near-term and structural) that policy and Budget outlay need to address.
This year’s Survey has the unique distinction of brushing off two traditional responsibilities of the Survey: identifying constraints and making recommendations. Instead, it sings an erudite paean to India’s economic management over the last eight years and projects continued growth, even if the world economy slows down.
Focus has to shift from the automated large scale sector, to promotion of the rural economy and the small and micro sectors.
The Union Budget 2023-24 is around the corner. A budget is expected to identify the issues facing the economy and society and try to provide solutions to them. This may involve continuing policies or changing them. The budget represents the priorities of the government – what gets more allocation and what gets less. Changes in priorities take time to show any impact, so many analysts say that budgets do not make a difference. But, given that the budget is the largest single economic event, it matters even if priorities remain unchanged.
Like previous Budgets, this too will be tailored to PM Modi’s longer term, prosperity-oriented approach to governance, rather than a short term, populist approach.
One of the standard features of office buildings and residential complexes of a certain, not so distant, vintage in India’s major cities is the absence of any designated space for parking cars. Urban planning hasn’t been one of the country’s great strengths. In fact, most cities have grown unplanned. However, the lack of parking spaces for cars (there may be some for two-wheelers) was quite deliberate. Urban planners simply did not believe that India would become prosperous enough for masses to own cars in any reasonable time frame (infrastructure is built for at least 30 to 50 years). And to be fair it wasn’t just urban planners, but most of the nation.