Budget 2018 Preview: Pragmatism and poise expected from FM Arun Jaitley

Notwithstanding the fact that the 2018 Union Budget would be wary of the general elections in the following year, the government would not like to turn overtly populist

In the last full budget before the 2019 general elections, capital market investors would be keen to know of the government’s stand on two critical issues: fiscal consolidation, and, tax burden on capital market investments.

On the former, we expect the Finance Minister to stick to the three per cent fiscal deficit target for FY19. While the government is widely expected to overshoot the FY18 target, the math still seems workable for maintaining next year’s mark. It’s pertinent to note that it would still be among the lowest deficit levels in last three decades.

On the latter, in