Common sense

Invitations to post-Budget conferences by industry chambers are usually restricted to the finance minister and key finance ministry bureaucrats. This year, however, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) made an exception by inviting former Finance Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha (pictured) to discuss his views on the Budget. How did that come about? Sinha revealed the secret. “The other day I was telling Rajiv [Kumar, Ficci secretary general] that chambers believe the wisdom lies only with the ministers of the ruling government. A day after I received an invitation to come here,” he said. Sinha’s dry sense of humour was also in evidence when he prefaced his views by saying, “Fortunately, I’m not an economist. Apologies to Rajiv [who is]. So I understand things in a simple way.”