Budget 2021 to be a tougher balancing act than India's other annual Budgets

A combination of stepped-up social spending - including on long-neglected healthcare - and a state-led infrastructure push will make the recovery both durable and inclusive

India’s federal budget Monday will be a much tougher balancing act than New Delhi’s regular annual fiscal trapeze. For one thing, the pandemic has upset business-as-usual calculations of how much to spend, on what, and how to finance it. For another, an impatience to make up for lost time has to be weighed against a shrinking of policy space in emerging markets: A reprise of the 2013 global taper tantrum could compound the country’s considerable domestic challenges.
 

On the first question — how much to spend — Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman must simply do a lot more. Even with some