Budget Townhall: Architects defend the math, say growth and tax targets realistic
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made it clear that the government will "spend, and spend and spend" to get the economy back on track. The industry has had some time now since the budget to digest the fine print. So does India Inc believe the budget does enough to support growth?
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made it clear that the government will "spend, and spend and spend" to get the economy back on track. The industry has had some time now since the budget to digest the fine print. So does India Inc believe the budget does enough to support growth?
In this CNBC-TV18 Budget Townhall, Shereen Bhan is in conversation with a slew of industry captains and the key architects of the budget - Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Secretary, Finance and Tarun Bajaj, Secretary, Economic Affairs.
Ajay Bhushan Pandey said, “The estimate that we have given both on the expenditure side as well as on the revenue side they are very realistic. So far as the current year is concerned we have already passed 10 months, we have a fairly good idea of how much we have collected and how much we have spent. What we have tried to do in this budget is that we have transparently put the revenue side as well as the expenditure side and then from there this fiscal deficit number that 9.5 percent as come in.”
Tarun Bajaj said, “This glide path is very much achievable and we have actually been very truthful while coming out with our numbers and we have not tried to overestimate or to bow before the people who have been saying that we should not move away from the 3 percent fiscal deficit target.”
On FRBM act he said, “FM has also come upfront and made that statement that we will amend FRBM act. At this point of time I would not like to say more than this aspect that we will amend the FRBM act whether we keep a flexible target, we keep a fixed target, what target we will keep, but it will be in the range of what she has indicated for 25-26 percent which is the last year of the recommendation of the finance commission.”
On the no change in tax regime, Pandey said, “This budgetary exercise has to be seen something which goes much beyond than merely adjusting or tinkering with the tax rates. One thing is also clear that in order to have higher revenue generation you don’t need to always increase the tax rate.”
“Another important factor is that there should be the stability of the rates or the tax system. We need to provide stability in the tax rate and not always resort to change the tax rates if we want to generate revenue,” he added.
Watch the exclusive interaction for more
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)
First Published: Feb 2, 2021 6:30 PM IST
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