TMS Ep582: North-South divide, govt's cash outgo, markets, interim budget

December 3 state poll results re-ignited an old debate -- one around the country’s regional divide. Remarks by a few politicians from southern states, which were later slammed by both the BJP and the Congress, once again trained light on north versus south divide. So how different are these two regions economically? Is this divide for real?

Clearly, some north Indian states have to do a catch up. Meanwhile, it looks like the government is trying to catch up with its increasing spending, especially on subsidies. It has now sought Parliament’s approval for additional spending of 1.29 trillion rupees. So, what does this extra cash outgo mean for government finances? 

Fertilizer stocks jumped about 7% last week after the government submitted supplementary demand for grants. Moving on, December has been a bumper month for domestic equity markets so far with the Nifty index crossing 21,000 on Friday and the Sensex eyeing the 70,000 level. As we enter a busy week, which factors are likely to influence the market’s direction, and what do technical charts suggest? 

Financial markets keenly await presentation of the Union budget. But being an election year, the budget -- which will be tabled on February 1 next year -- will be interim. And Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that it won’t have any “spectacular announcement”. But what is an interim budget? Listen to this episode of the podcast for answers.