In his Budget 2017 speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has primarily focused on 10 important sectors, including farmers, infrastructure, digital economy and tax administration to transform, energise and clean India. While the opposition parties led by Congress have termed the budget to be lacking “vision” and “damp squib”, experts have a mixed view. They appreciate government effort to increase transparency.
“Budget 2017 has focused on infrastructure, including digital infrastructure, increasing private investments, increase consumption and strengthen social sector and safety net, including health and education,” says Jaijit Bhattacharya, Partner – Infrastructure and Government Services at KPMG India.
“The key feature of the budget appears to be several declared deadlines for outcomes such as elimination of TB by 2025, removal of unmanned crossings in railways by 2019 etc. This makes the budget more accountable and it’s impact and progress can be tracked over a period of time,” he says, adding that “the budget appears to be able to achieve it’s stated objectives and would help in growth of consumption and infrastructure development.”