Not a pre-election Budget, please!

The forthcoming Budget should plan a faster fiscal deficit reduction, instead of embarking on a spending spree

The finance ministry has begun the exercise for preparing the Union Budget for 2023-24. To be presented on February 1, 2023, this would be the last full Budget of the Modi government in its second term. This is because, in the normal course, the next general elections should be held in April-May 2024. Naturally, therefore, there is a general expectation that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fifth and final Budget of this government would be a pre-election exercise.

There are, however, good reasons why the finance minister should not allow it to be a pre-election Budget. Not because giveaways in a Budget