Budget 2022: Some musings

The worrisome issue of fiscal consolidation remains a major concern

A week after the Union Budget, pretty much every worthwhile comment (and many not so worthwhile ones!) has been made in all forms of media. However, as a regular columnist, one feels obliged to declare one’s hand. So here goes.

First, it is important to recognise that the finance minister (FM) and her team were charged with making a Budget in an extremely challenging economic situation. The economy had been hammered by the Covid pandemic and the strong initial lockdown in spring 2020, and although the output recovery since then had been quite good, it had been buffeted by the second