The turn of the Centre

The Centre should maintain the current year's fiscal consolidation pace to give states more time to adjust

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her fourth consecutive Budget in just about eight weeks from now. Independent India has so far seen 23 finance ministers (excluding three prime ministers), who presented at least one Budget during their tenure. But only eight of these finance ministers had the privilege of presenting at least four consecutive Budgets. When Ms Sitharaman presents the Budget for 2022-23 on February 1, she would become the ninth finance minister to have achieved that feat.

Is the fourth consecutive Budget by a finance minister a significant indicator? No clear trend on this emerges from the