Redistribution is explicit now

COMMENT: Urjit R Patel, Chief Policy Officer, IDFC Ltd

The Finance Minister has made a credible attempt to begin implementation of the CMP while maintaining fiscal prudence mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

This budget is a harbinger of things to come from the UPA government. Its central message is that the reform programme will broadly remain unchanged: Increasing FDI limits, commitment to ASEAN customs tariff levels, modest privatisation etc.

At the same time, redistribution is now an explicit objective (through enhanced expenditure, education cess and higher IT exemption limit). Hopefully, this will be complemented by accountability on the expenditure side, specifically, by the plugging of myriad 'leaking buckets'.

It is commendable that right at the outset the FM has sought the Planning Commission's expertise in overhauling the mechanisms for public delivery of social services.