Long-term growth trumps poll populism in Nirmala Sitharaman’s booster budget

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech made it clear that the government is focused on overcoming long-term huddles by formulating a roadmap for India’s economic growth over the next 25 years.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday delivered her shortest budget speech, but it was enough to make it clear that the government remains focused on overcoming long-term growth hurdles rather than offering handouts ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in five states.

The budget, focused on boosting capital expenditure, aimed at formulating a broad roadmap for India’s economic growth over the next 25 years. Sitharaman prioritised long-term job creation, digitisation, green energy and infrastructure development, contrary to expectations that the upcoming elections would dictate terms of the budget.

For instance, there were no announcements related to income tax or state-specific sops, but several measures were announced to boost overall infrastructural output and job creation. This suggests that the government is not counting on the budget to better its electoral prospects, but is using it to solve long-term problems like unemployment and infra development.

The lack of populism in this budget has left many political pundits surprised, but it also affirms the government's commitment to building trust and attaining long-term developmental goals.

At the start of her speech, Nirmala Sitharaman said India has entered ‘Amrit Kaal’ or the 25-year-long lead-up to 100 years of independence. She added that the government’s vision for this budget is to lay a roadmap to achieve certain goals by 2047.

“This Budget seeks to lay the foundation and give a blueprint to steer the economy over the Amrit Kaal of the next 25 years from India at 75 to India at 100. It continues to build on the vision drawn in the Budget of 2021- 22. Its fundamental tenets, which included transparency of financial statement and fiscal position, reflect the government’s intent, strengths, and challenges. This continues to guide us,” Sitharaman said.

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