FM dreams in words, not deeds

COMMENT: SL RAO, chairman, ISEC and former director-general, NCAER

"Unlike other Chidambaram Budgets, this one is ruled by politics, not vision".

This one is ruled by politics, not vision. To appease the Left it makes no major proposals. It talks a lot about social expenditures but has neither significant increases nor stated outcomes.

It has little for infrastructure except for the old Vajpayee programmes. Agriculture, which has suffered from declining public investment for two decades, receives more words than funds.

With GDP growth estimated at 8.1 per cent and a euphoric corporate sector, there was an opportunity to substantially increase expenditures on agriculture, physical and social infrastructure and to add to tax revenues.

Much of the FM's speech was about programmes for the poor. But the expenditure increases on agriculture, health and education are modest.

Tax revenues to GDP is to rise mainly because of the buoyant economy, higher rates of service taxes with more items added on and the addition of long-term capital gains on securities to total incomes for tax purposes. It is a virtuous budget, lacking in ambition and vision. Its dreams are in words, not in deeds.