Bringing down fiscal deficit to 3% in line with FRBM Act will be a major challenge for the govt
The government will need to take a call on whether it wants to support growth - which is expected to slip to 5 per cent in the current year - or contain fiscal slippage
Ind-Ra's Devendra Pant said while bigger states are better placed to manage fiscal shocks, states which see fiscal deficit at 4% or more may see deterioration
On the other hand, tax revenues rose 13.44 per cent for West Bengal in this period
Revenue projections may be realistic this time
The right fiscal-monetary-external balance must be achieved to nurture and harness a nascent recovery
Economic slowdown leaves Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with a difficult choice in her second Budget - whether to rein in fiscal deficit or widen ot to stimulate the economy
A correction in consumption demand is cited as a major reason for a dip in economic growth to a decadal low of 5 per cent
The larger economy suffers more than the central govt, as New Delhi is allowed to get away with behaving arbitrarily and then hiding the reality behind bogus numbers, writes T N Ninan
According to party, meeting fiscal deficit not the real economic issue for the government
Tax receipts are expected to fall by Rs 2.5 trillion which may also be caused by the corporation tax and GST rate cuts
India's massive infrastructure build-out targets need an all-hands-on-deck effort
Three years of slowing growth hold two important lessons for the Budget
Markets to open for regular trading on February 1
In its outlook for FY21, it projected the deficit to be 3.4 per cent in the next year against 3 per cent given in the papers presented under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM)
The government has announced a slew of measures recently to prop-up the economy, but Ind-Ra believes they will come to aid only in the medium term
The persisting downturn is resulting in lower revenues and rising deficit, reducing the space for a fiscal stimulus
A comparison of Modi govt's management of fiscal deficit with UPA-2
"This year, there will be a realistic assessment of the nominal GDP," said a source.
At 5 per cent, GDP growth in the current year would be an 11-year low. Worse, this will also mark a deceleration for a third straight year, writes A K Bhattacharya