Union Budget 2022 will be the tenth budget presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, including one interim budget presented in the general election year of 2019. It will be Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fourth budget presentation.
She will begin her budget speech in Lok Sabha at 11.00 am on Feb. 1. You can watch it on the BloombergQuint website or on any of our social media platforms, including here on YouTube.
Union budgets in India are often more than just a presentation of key financial metrics – revenue, expenditure, deficit…
The run up to the budget is filled with clamour from industry and taxpayers on changes necessary – though this has reduced somewhat since GST was introduced and the annual tinkering of indirect taxes curtailed.
Yet, the government’s taxation targets and expenditure decisions offer as much a view of the state of the economy as they do the direction of political winds.
The stated intent of the government has been to keep fiscal deficits, the gap between expenditure and revenue, in check. A long term path from 9.5% in FY21 to 6.8% in FY22 and 4.5% by FY26 was articulated last year.
That will be helped this year (FY22) by a big jump in tax collections, expected to exceed the Rs 15.4 lakh crore net revenue estimate, though divestment proceeds, a much smaller contributor, will be nowhere close to the target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore if the LIC IPO doesn’t make it before year end.
Meanwhile, a weakening post-pandemic recovery has economists calling for continued support from the government through targeted spends, such as on rural jobs guarantee scheme and capital projects such as infrastructure.
Also, the 2022 union budget comes just days before 5 key state elections giving rise to expectations of higher social sector spends and a social security plan even.
So, what will it be – a tight-fisted budget or an election-oriented one?
