Union Budget 2024: Prudent, bold and savvy

As for the long-term vision of the Budget, there are some reassuring messages from the finance minister

In her sixth full Budget for the Narendra Modi government, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday showed that she is fiscally prudent, bold and politically savvy.
 

Her fiscal prudence is evident not just from the reduced deficit target of 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2024-25, but from her announcement that she would align her fiscal deficit targets from 2026-27 to a declining trajectory of the Union government’s debt. The Interim Budget for 2024-25 had set a fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent, which implied a government debt level of 57.2 per cent