New Budget, old outcome

Many parts of the speech had little to do with the Union Budget, says the author

The Union Budget has come and gone, as memorable or as forgettable as any other. Like each year, industry lobbies sent memorandums on what they wanted from the Budget, businessmen publicised their wish list, while financial experts, analysts and fund managers hoped that a new government, armed with another huge majority in Parliament, would unleash “reforms”. Reforms, of course, have been in the process of arriving in India for the past 25 years, like Godot in Samuel Beckett’s play. 

Come Budget Day, we began the usual process of deciphering what the finance minister (FM) had offered by way of proposals, ideas,