Why FM 2020 Budget Speech is the best ever, since 1947

The three ex-finance misters –Dr Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha and P. Chidambaram have not yet given their critical analysis, makes me believe the 2020 budget  is the best ever, since 1947.

In democracy, the people leave the responsibility to the government to take the country forward, so it becomes our RIGHT to analyze their words, promises and efforts thoroughly for good or bad reasons. However, there are some dimensions, ways to analyze and to arrive at a judgment/conclusion without the right understanding, knowledge, facts, figures and purpose, can be misleading.

Even many of the media experts and knowledgeable journalists have mocked the 2020 union budget speech of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Soon after the longest ever speech delivered by the FM in India, got ended or rather cut short due to illness, the opposition and the media brought it at the center of nation’s focus. They termed budget hopeless and FM not making any big path breaking bold announcements in her marathon budget presentation speech, as a big failure.  

I think the longest budget speech ever given by the Finance Minister is an affirmation of how complex the country's economic landscape is and shows how difficult it is to solve all the problems in one or each budget. The Finance Minister has boldly tried to meet the burning challenges and her speech is only a summary of the aspirations of 130 crore people; irrespective of whether or not, the opposition or a particular group or person feels good or bad about it. The long list of different topics covered by her in the budget speech shows the high expectations of citizens from the central government, which was elected with higher number of seats and bigger expectations.

I believe the FM has made a bold attempt to touch all aspects affecting the economy, be it efforts to improve the economic condition of the farmers, care for the common man, tax payers, consumers, simplification of the Income Tax Act, education, MSMEs, infra, rail, road, ports, airports, she has tried to provide necessary impetus to one and all.  However, we very well know the impact of new steps taken in the budget will be visible in the long term. The GDP growth will hopefully start rising from here and by the time during next year (2021) budget you will see people talk about surpassing 8-10% growth rate.

Therefore, I believe that not only in India, but also globally, given the challenging conditions of many big economies, and the limited elbow room the Modi Government has currently, the FM has not rightly made any bold announcement or fiscal stimulus package while presenting this budget. It shows good economic prudence and intent  of the government.  This at least, does not do any harm.

If the income is only a rupee, then it makes more sense not to spend more than 99.9 paise. This is what FM tried to do, which is a good step. While taking care of everyone, the she has tried to provide strong balance to the staggering economy with this budget. Once a proper balance is established, the economy can be accelerated by big and bold reforms. 

It seems appropriate in these difficult times, even the three ex-finance misters –Dr Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha and P. Chidambaram have not yet given their critical  analysis on this budget, this is why I believe this budget is the best ever, since 1947.

   By Aryan Prem Rana, Founder and Chief Mentor, AARYANA MATASCO