Budget 2021 is fiscally stimulating, but more on expenditure side

Budget has delivered a fairly effective boost on capex while bringing about some reforms in the financial sector

The Union Budget for fiscal 2021-22 (FY22) was to deliver a lot, as expectations had built up to a crescendo after the government signalled that something big should be expected. As it is, an official update on what has transpired in FY21 and what is to be expected in FY22, the announcements and revelations are important. On the expenditure side, the Budget surely does fulfill meeting expectation.

Let us first look at the FY21 update. The fiscal deficit has been placed at 9.5 per cent, which is much higher than what was expected due to higher expenditures as the increase was