As the country witnesses a rapid resurgence of coronavirus cases, a Finance Ministry report has exuded confidence in the Indian economy and termed the economic recovery as resilient citing improvement in high frequency indicators. The Monthly Economic Review for March 2021 released by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) said that the agricultural sector remains the bright spot of Indian economy with foodgrains production touching 303.3 million tonnes in 2020-21 beating record production levels for the fifth consecutive year in a row. Further, MGNREGS has acted as a strong pillar to insulate the rural economy by generating all-time high employment of 383.8 crore person days during 2020-21, 44.7 per cent higher compared to previous year.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been saying that Budget 2021 will not be like any other before. What might that mean? Coming against the backdrop of a pandemic that has, arguably, wrecked the economy like never before, it could mean she has more big-ticket relief measures up her sleeve. But it could also mean, says
Business Standard s in-house policy expert A K Bhattacharya, that she is preparing the nation for something unpleasant – something like a one-time Covid tax to raise additional funds to push through more spending and help expedite economic recovery.
Watch this third episode of our special pre-Budget video series, Beyond Budget Headlines with AKB, to also learn which big schemes could get more funding and which the axe, and if setting up multiple bad banks would be a good idea.