Govt may have to apply brakes on existing fiscal consolidation road map

Centre may have to amend FRBM Act once again to achieve this, which isn't an issue as such an amendment does not require a two-third or three-fourth majority

It is now certain that the Centre’s fiscal deficit won’t meet the Budget projection of 3.5 per cent of GDP this fiscal year and may, in fact, be about twice that number.

Industry and economists have urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to relax fiscal consolidation for another couple of years. If this is accepted by the government, the N K Singh panel recommendations, on the basis of which the fiscal consolidation road map was prepared with some changes, do not hold good.

The government may have to amend the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act once more to enable it