India’s financial landscape appears set for a sea change. Early into its second term, the Modi government, through the Budget speech of its Finance Minister, has signalled the likelihood of a fundamental transformation of Indian finance. There were five indications…
Discussions on the state of the world economy centre around the likely negative impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic and the potential positive effect of the truce reflected in the “phase 1” trade deal between China and India. Though most…
India’s economy may be heading to recession, but India’s leading business group Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, appears to be holding out well. Though revenues of the group in the last quarter of 2019…
Though Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laboured for well over 2 hours when delivering her budget speech, it is likely that the aspect of the speech that will receive popular attention would be the restructuring of income tax slabs and reduction…
Besides its length, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech presenting the Budget for 2020-21 was notable for a number reasons. It did not discuss the likely shortfall in revenue collection relative to targets during financial year 2019-20 and what that implies…
In the search for resources to make up for sluggish tax revenue growth, one source to which the Finance Minister rising to present Budget 20201 can legitimately turn is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). But the government’s draft on…
Given the obsession to limit the dressed up fiscal deficit figure and unable to think of better responses to the growth slowdown than tax cuts, it is more than likely that better economic management and ways to address the intensifying…
Speculation is rife on what Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s second budget will contain and do. It does not take much to speculate on what it is most unlikely to do, which is to substantially hike central government expenditures as a…
It’s that time of year again, when people start talking about what the Union Budget may bring in the shape of fiscal policy changes and what it will show about public finances in the previous year. But increasingly, such discussion…
It is not the most conducive time for Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to present her second budget. Growth is decelerating sharply, revenues are lagging behind targets, the government’s off-budget transactions that make a mockery of budget estimates are being revealed,…
