Budget 2018: Tightrope walk for Jaitley; expect a focus on housing, infra

Within infra, areas like housing, rural connectivity, digital connectivity, metro projects, waterways, sanitation, urban & rural infra, and rural electrification will be beneficiaries

Budget 2018, to be presented on February 1, is set to be a tightrope walk for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. While political compulsions might need him to announce some populist measures, the need of the time from the point of view of the economy would call for some tough calls. Which path would the finance minister take? Nitasha Shankar, senior vice-president and head of research, YES Securities, lists her Budget 2018-19 expectations.

Considering the government’s long term vision as well as the trend set through the earlier budgets, the focus this time is expected to remain largely on