At the India Today and Business Today Budget Round Table 2023, India's former chief statistician TCA Anant hailed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for keeping the fiscal deficit in check and continuing the push on infra. He hailed this budget as one of the most progressive in a very long time
Speaking to Business Today Editor Sourav Majumdar, TCA Anant said that he had feared the budget may go for some short-term gains considering elections. He added, “The government has done a remarkable job in not giving into a variety of temptations.”
Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Advisor at SBI, said that the budget has a clear orientation of moving towards an era of increased capital expenditure, and the creation of more assets
Soumya Kanti Ghosh picked up three big numbers in the Budget - CapEx as a percentage of GDP at a 17-yr-high, revenue deficit as a percentage of fiscal deficit at a 14-year low and the subsidy reduced to 1.3%
Speaking to Business Today’s Sourav Majumdar, Soumya Kanti Ghosh said the petroleum subsidy today is the lowest since FY 2004. He added, “It's actually at a 19-year low, A large part of this money is going to build PLI.”
HDFC Bank's chief economist Abheek Barua said that the absorption of the massive Rs 10 lakh crore capex announced in the budget might be an issue with myriad uncertainties at the centre and state levels
Abheek Barua said the government has changed the formula of political parties throwing money at the electorate before elections. He said that this budget is a ‘move towards getting away from the revadi culture (doles) to hard economics’.
NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand said that the unexpected capital outlay would help in achieving transformational goals and India needed to do things differently such as ensuring complementarities in investment