Govt has decided India s past Covid crisis by reducing fiscal support in Budget: Yamini Aiyer
Share
Synopsis
“With the push on capital expenditure and infrastructure, it seems like the government has determined for itself that India is entering a post-pandemic phase and the immediate crisis around the pandemic, for which fiscal space needs to be created, (is over),” said Yamini Aiyer, director of the Centre for Policy Research during the event.
Agencies
Expenditure on the MGNREGA was reduced to Rs 73,000 crore in the budget against Rs 1.1 lakh crore in the revised estimates for FY21.
The government seems to have decided that India is beyond the Covid-19 crisis, evident from the planned reduction in expenditure on the rural employment guarantee scheme, said experts during a virtual discussion on the Union Budget 2021-22 on Monday.
Liberal tariffing needed: think tanks
The 2021-22 Union Budget’s bet on pushing infrastructure spending to revive the economy faces implementation risks and it may have been better to combine it with some income support for those worst affected by the pandemic, economists at leading think tanks said on Monday.
The rising tendency towards protectionism doesn’t sit well with India’s objective of attracting more foreign direct investment and integrating with global value chains, and a liberal tariff policy maybe more effective, argued Rajat Kathuria, director and chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).