Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced Budget 2021. She said that the country's healthcare spending would be doubled to Rs 2,23,846 crore and added that Rs 35,000 crore would be spent on Covid vaccines. Capital expenditure will be increased to Rs 5.54 lakh crore, which is around 34 percent higher than last year. The government also announced infrastructure projects in several states. Will this Budget diminish the financial problems of people amid the coronavirus? Will this Budget accelerate the country's economic growth? Dr Prannoy Roy analyses with a panel of experts.
Here are the highlights of Dr Prannoy Roy's analysis:
Feb 01, 2021 21:27 (IST)
Omkar Goswami: The positives -- the speech lasted in less than 2 hours. Speech was far more coherent. There hasn't been too much fudging of the fiscal deficit numbers.
Feb 01, 2021 21:19 (IST)
Amit Mitra: There is a fundamental problem with this government's approach. 7 quarters of decline before Covid - because they don't know macroeconomics. During Covid, I wrote to the Finance Minister and said please spur demand. But they are supply-side people. They have a fundamental lack of macroeconomics...This is an anti-federalist budget.
Feb 01, 2021 21:07 (IST)
Omkar Goswami: This government talks about disinvestment but simply can't do it