 "India doesn't need a bold Budget now, populist spending should be avoided")
On Feb. 1 in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will present its last federal budget before general elections are held in a few months. Unlike most other budgets, this typically isn’t a high-octane affair; governments are discouraged from locking their successors into any new spending or taxes. An “interim” budget, as it’s called, tries to avoid committing spending for the entire financial year, which begins from April.
But, Modi’s finance minister seems ready to break with that requirement. Politicians from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party insist that there’s no legal requirement to present just a vote-on-account. And the reason’s
