Tightrope walk

New FM has multiple pressures to balance when drafting Budget

Now that the general election has been concluded, attention must turn to the Union Budget for 2019-20, which will be presented in early July. The interim Budget, presented in February, laid out certain estimates for the spending and revenue pattern over the year. But it is clear now that the situation has turned even more adverse. A slowdown in growth over the past three quarters is likely to impact revenue. The targets set in the interim Budget will definitely appear to be ambitious in this scenario. The interim Budget figures showed that corporate tax collections would be higher by 15