Sitharaman, who was presenting the annual budget in parliament, also pegged the fiscal deficit target for the year 2020/21 at 3.5% of the GDP
Budget 2020 Live: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the annual Union Budget 2020-21 in Parliament. Follow Business Standard for LIVE updates
The Central government's total expenditure stood at Rs 21.09 trillion (75.7 per cent of BE) while total receipts were Rs 11.77 trillion (56.6 per cent of BE)
Fiscal targets may have to be relaxed for the current year
It is time to focus on growth and, therefore, cutting expenditure is not an option, probably because at a time like this, growth needs to be taken care of, he added
Per-day construction drops from 29.7 km in FY19 to 12.7 km in first six months of current fiscal
The government aims to restrict the gap at 3.3 per cent of the GDP or Rs 7,03,760 crore in the year ending March 2020
For the current fiscal, it projected a GDP growth of 5 per cent, the lowest in 11 years, and worsening job prospects
The overarching theme of the Economic Survey 2019-20 is creation of wealth over time and the implementation of policies that act as enablers in creation of this wealth
Bringing down fiscal deficit to 3% in line with FRBM Act will be a major challenge for the govt
The government will need to take a call on whether it wants to support growth - which is expected to slip to 5 per cent in the current year - or contain fiscal slippage
Ind-Ra's Devendra Pant said while bigger states are better placed to manage fiscal shocks, states which see fiscal deficit at 4% or more may see deterioration
On the other hand, tax revenues rose 13.44 per cent for West Bengal in this period
Revenue projections may be realistic this time
The right fiscal-monetary-external balance must be achieved to nurture and harness a nascent recovery
Economic slowdown leaves Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with a difficult choice in her second Budget - whether to rein in fiscal deficit or widen ot to stimulate the economy
A correction in consumption demand is cited as a major reason for a dip in economic growth to a decadal low of 5 per cent
The larger economy suffers more than the central govt, as New Delhi is allowed to get away with behaving arbitrarily and then hiding the reality behind bogus numbers, writes T N Ninan
According to party, meeting fiscal deficit not the real economic issue for the government
Tax receipts are expected to fall by Rs 2.5 trillion which may also be caused by the corporation tax and GST rate cuts