Thursday, July 10, 2014

Why I liked Budget 2014?

Today, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented Narendra Modi government's maiden budget - the Budget 2014 - in Parliament.

I personally feel the budget is good and would like to give the Budget 8 out of 10. I reserve the remaining 2 for implementation.

In the budget our Finance Minister has provided for a lot of developments, programmes and schemes. After a long time the budget appeared as policy document which tried to give an insight into what the national leadership thinks.

In his budge, the FM spoke of the problem regions and the difficulties that the economy faced. He spoke of how he meant to spent within his means. Economists (in the media) have appreciated the targets that he has set for bringing fiscal deficit down to 3% in the by 2016-17.

He has allowed FDI up to 49% in insurance and defense. He has launched a host of schemes for the rural economy.

What I liked most!

The best parts of the budget, for me, are...

1. FDI in defense.
This will - on one hand help in expansion of  the manufacturing sector and create more jobs, on the other hand it will reduce outflow of foreign exchange.

2. AIIMS in each state
Setting up of 4 new AIIMS this year with a promise to every state will have an AIIMS in the coming years.

3. New Medical Colleges, IIMs and IITs
Setting up of new education infrastructure is the country's need of the hour.

4. The focus on NE states
A special effort and provision for the development of the North East states of the nation.

5. The specific allotments
Arun Jaitley has made many specific allocations of 50, 100 and 200 crores on a wide range of schemes and projects.

Time to Deliver

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government's Finance Minister has delivered. He has created satisfactorily created a road map for delivering on the elections promises. Now it is time for the government to deliver.

It is now up to the other ministries of the government to make effective use of the funds provided for in the budget and ensure proper corruption-free utilization.