Budget is a triumph of ground-up economics

COMMENT/ O P Bhatt, Chairman, State Bank of India

The Finance Minister has been proactive in providing Rs 16,500 crore for capitalization of banks. It would ensure both the growth, as well as availability of growth capital, as the rebound in the economy continues and demand picks up.

The Budget is a triumph for ground-up economics. The finance minister has used just the right calibration of fiscal stimulus and internal belt tightening to take the Indian economy out of the crisis vortex.

With such deft, fiscal management, we can expect the gross fiscal deficit in the next decade to fall to the levels in first world economies. The balance of global economic might well change fundamentally.

I have always maintained that there is at least two percentage point kicker to the GDP growth waiting to be unleashed if we get the financial inclusion piece right.

Another piece in the same pie is the finance minister’s resolve to clean up the myriad of regulations in the financial sector industry, along with a promise to relook at the entire foreign direct investment policy to make it more user friendly.