<b>Shubhashis Gangopadhyay</b>: Consistent with fiscal prudence

The best the government can do is leave its own imprint on what it thinks the Budget should achieve

The November 2016 demonetisation was supposed to have identified black money.  However, most Indians feel that that has not happened. So, everyone expected the Budget to shed light on how the budgetary policies will identify the black money that is surely still there in the economy. In particular, people expected the Budget to find new ways to collect tax from the non-compliant. And everyone felt that the way to improve compliance was to reduce direct tax rates — both corporate and personal income taxes. In addition to reducing the rate on the first taxable slab, the Budget reduces the threshold