A post-contraction Budget with a difference

Those who were expecting a stimulus package through higher revenue expenditure in the Budget will surely be deeply disappointed

All the past Union Budgets presented by finance ministers of India after a year of contraction in gross domestic product, or GDP, were singularly devoid of any major taxation proposals. In her Budget for 2021-22, also presented after a year of GDP contraction, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has broadly followed that tradition set by her predecessors in the area of taxation, but in many other respects, she has outdone them.

Barring the promise of a Customs duty rationalisation, some increases and reductions in import tariffs to help the domestic industry and simplification of direct tax procedures for individuals, the rates