BJP govts are fiscal hawks: Morgan Stanley's Ridham Desai

Desai expects the government to continue on its path of fiscal consolidation in Budget 2017

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) governments have been hawkish as far as fiscal policy is concerned, said Ridham Desai, head of India research and India equity strategies, Morgan Stanley. 

He expects the government to continue on its path of fiscal consolidation in this Budget too, and said the consolidated fiscal deficit, which is at a high of about 6 per cent, has room to fall. 

“If you look at what the Modi government has done in the past Budgets, or the National Democratic Alliance’s Budgets in the 1999-2004 period, or even those of states where BJP has been in power,