Number Theory: Four things to watch out for in today’s budget
Any significant increase in transfers to select states is bound to eat into the fiscal room available to the central government for other things.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will present its budget in a very different political scenario than it has been used to in the last ten years. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) does not have a parliamentary majority of its own in the Lok Sabha and it is critically dependent on the support of regional parties such as the Janata Dal (United), Telugu Desam Party, and the Shiv Sena from Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra respectively. The Budget will also have to cater to the political necessities of forthcoming elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year. While the Economic Survey presented yesterday has restricted itself to flagging medium term challenges for the Indian economy, the Budget will have to be politically more hands on. Here are four things to watch for in today’s Budget.
