Budget 2023: How the finance ministry can kill many birds with one stone

The govt should shift all welfare spending into the capital spending account and call it an investment in social capital

A Business Standard report says: "The Union government could target a fiscal deficit of 5.8-6 per cent of nominal GDP for 2023-24, and it should continue its capital expenditure push and look to simplify the personal income tax regime, economists recommended Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team during their pre-Budget interaction on Monday."

The report doesn't say what the economists said about how this was to be achieved if, simultaneously, welfare spending would also need to be increased in a pre-election year. The next general election is due in April-May 2024.

Some questions arise from this annual interaction, which