governance, political economy, institutional development and economic regulation
Despite the hoopla around the Union government’s Budget, for citizens, allocations in their state budgets matter more. Nearly two-thirds of total government expenditure is done by states and for capex, this could be even higher (FY 2020-21 BE data). Union FM primus inter pares Twenty-eight states and eight Union Territories share the enlarged pie at […]
Read More A bottom up look at the annual budgetDespite receipts being 18% lower than even last year till November, largely because of the yawning gap against the aggressive budget estimate for disinvestment receipts (Rs 2,1 trillion), the Union government did well to spend almost 5% more than last year by enhancing borrowing. This is in the best traditions of trying to keep the […]
Read More Budget for hope, build resilient foundationsThe Union government has done well to resist being dragged into “bhed-chaal” (following the herd) by blowing up its fiscal balance beyond repair in the hope of a steep economic recovery. The case for continued fiscal rectitude The fiscal deficit (FD) is on track to increase to Rs 12.5 trillion this year. The expected GDP […]
Read More Fiscal rectitude flows from resilient revenuesOne of the realizations, home-spun by Covid in India, is that there is value to “atmanirbharta” (ANB) or self-reliance – the capacity to march alone, if necessary. An admirable attribute except that “aloneness” creeps up silently on you like a habit, difficult to shake off. Looked at more cheerily, it is not so different from […]
Read More Marching aloneThere is something endearing about the desire of the Modi government to be fiscally correct in the amount of debt it piles up. Chrometophobia – the fear of debt This single-minded adherence to being fiscally correct was much in evidence during the Jaitley years when reduction of the fiscal deficit (FD) below 4.5% of GDP, […]
Read More Wanted visionary husbanding of public financesThe myth of a dominant center and weak states in India is long enduring. Some of this is wish fulfillment by national elites since it reinforces their own centrality, as Delhi based movers and shakers. How granular is the “post planning”economy? The “planned” economy approach, which ended in 2014 with the Modi government, also played […]
Read More Sorry StatesEconomic downturns are cruel. They impose traumatic disruptions in incomes and lives – salary cuts, extended long leave without pay, outright job loss, drying up of business income or bankruptcy. The cash crunch for government is at crisis levels The government is no different. Revenue receipt of the Union government in May (Rs 0.17 trillion) […]
Read More Fiscal murmursPrime Ministers Modi’s address on May 12 was, as expected, a dog’s breakfast of proposals aimed at pleasing everyone. Please all stimulus 10.5% of GDP The Rs 20 trillion ($260 billion) stimulus “package” – around 10.5% of the likely GDP of Rs 190 trillion in Fy 2021 – is touted as a silver bullet which […]
Read More New India – Vocal about local but aspirationally globalThe depressing sameness of the days for those locked-in as the epidemic rages, is relieved only by the 24X7 flow of electricity – the juice that keeps us all connected, informed, entertained and as summer advances, in air cooled or conditioned comfort. Thank God its not the power deficient noughties! Imagine being locked-in for two […]
Read More Joining the dots on electricityIn a quietly subversive “revolt” 47 officers of the Indian Revenue Service, which administers taxes on income, hit the headlines this week with a policy paper “Fiscal Options and Response to Covid-18 Epidemic” FORCE outlining the tax measures government could take to deal with the economic downside of Covid-19. Too young to be seen or […]
Read More May the FORCE be with young IRS officers