Modi govt not populist even in election year: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal

Despite not getting Rs 500 billion from the GST for a month, the government managed to bridge the deficit to 3.5 per cent, Goyal said

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has refuted charges that it is resorting to populist measures by going for supplementary demand for grants that will hit the exchequer by Rs 59.5 billion.
 
Replying to a debate, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said in the Lok Sabha the supplementary showed “this (demand for grants) is the lowest ever in the past 15 years. It is just 0.2 per cent of the total Budget, compared to 14 per cent in 2008-09 (the election year in the UPA’s tenure).” The House later passed the first batch of supplementary demand for FY19.
 
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