WHAT CAN BE THE IDEAL BUDGET? A LAYMAN’S TAKE

What do you look for on budget day? An employee will check out the exemption limit, the businessman will check out the tax policies, the housewife will check out the pricing of household and kitchen items and the student will check out the mobile and gizmo segment. The incumbent government will check out if they did enough to entice all vote banks while the opposition will look for holes to criticize the government, even in areas where there might not be any.

The Modi government goes into budget presentation with huge tailwinds. Foreigners are actually keen to invest in India now that even China is becoming risky investment terrain. The thumping win in Gujarat is great optics, particularly because it’s a businessman’s abode and under Modi as CM and PM, the tremendous progress it has made in all areas-be it infrastructure, growth or general governance.

India’s focus on digitalization of economy has brought in hordes of downloads of popular apps-shopping, credited financial and corporate too. The free food to poor households and support to new entrepreneurs and start-ups “Atmanirbhar Bharat” is inspiring indeed, so one can expect some more special provisions for encouraging business ideas in this budget.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.