Budget 2018: Many big announcements by Jaitley, but where is the money?

The projected deficit for FY2019 is 3.3%. What underlies this is a tax revenue growth of 16.6% and expenditure growth of 10.1%

A budget has to be evaluated against its effectiveness in promoting the stated policy goals of the government. The primary economic function of the Centre’s budget is the maintenance of macroeconomic stability. But the specific tax and expenditure proposals in the budget impact on other policy objectives such as growth, job creation, equity and environmental sustainability.

When it comes to macroeconomic stability the main parameter that one looks at is the fiscal deficit which measures approximately the government’s draft on private sector savings. The FY2019 Budget slows down the process of reducing the fiscal deficit and, what is perhaps even more