By Aftab Ahmed and Manoj Kumar NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised a game-changing budget to revive the pandemic-hit economy, but a mountain of debt may force the finance minister to make tough choices when she delivers the package on Monday.
Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to increase spending by more than 15% year-on-year in 2021-22 with an emphasis on infrastructure and healthcare, say senior officials and advisers involved in budget preparation, as she looks to reinvigorate an economy projected to contract 7.7% in the current fiscal year. But the officials, who asked not to be named as the budget discussions were private, said major subsidy programmes such as for food, fertiliser and fuel would likely be partly funded through off-budget borrowing by state-owned firms.
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has promised a game-changing budget to revive the pandemic-hit economy, but a mountain of debt may force the finance minister to make tough choices when she delivers the package on Monday.
FILE PHOTO: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds budget papers as she leaves her office to present the federal budget in the parliament in New Delhi, India, Feb. 1, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File Photo
Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to increase spending by more than 15% year-on-year in 2021-22 with an emphasis on infrastructure and healthcare, say senior officials and advisers involved in budget preparation, as she looks to reinvigorate an economy projected to contract 7.7% in the current fiscal year.