Jaitley's Budget 2018 has betrayed Narendra Modi govt's stress: Here's how

The finance minister's switch to Hindi for those segments of the Budget that addressed the 'social sector' concerns was possibly to ensure what he had to offer went home

Budget 2018 has not hidden the stress the Narendra Modi government is facing. On the slip in fiscal deficit for 2017-18 to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and the anticipated 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit for 2018-19, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said “due to one tail wind and one head wind”.

The tail wind he says is demonetisation — it increased formalisation in the economy. Jaitley claimed he had got Rs 960 billion more as direct tax from it. The headwind is the Goods and Services Tax (GST). “This discontinuity in the taxation regime of the country