Budget, demand and supply

After the Budget is presented today, those wishing to buy a set of the Budget documents can do so for an official price of around Rs 700. But that, apparently, is way above its street value of Rs 500 or so. This “discovered” price is courtesy some low-level functionaries in the finance ministry and Press Information Bureau who choose to make a little extra income on the side and “help” the general public. Even that seems a high price to pay for documents that are freely available on the web.