Budget 2019: Time for govt to restore its credibility, get numbers right

Restoring the finance ministry's credibility requires more than ensuring that the fiscal deficit numbers are believable

Budget: During election years such as this one, India’s outgoing finance minister offers up only an “interim budget,” under the assumption that the incoming government will have different policy priorities. Given that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was reelected so easily, one might think the budget it’s scheduled to present on July 5 won’t look much different. It should.

Modi’s new finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, faces different conditions than her predecessor. In the months since the interim budget, India’s economy has taken a turn for the worse. In May, we learned that the economy had grown at only 5.8% in the three months between January and March, significantly lower than expected.

The monsoon -- crucial for growth in agriculture, which employs half or more of India’s workers -- has under-performed. Rain in June was a third less than expected; it was the fifth-driest June in a century. Read More

 Business Standard