Rama Krishna Sangem
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union budget for 2024-25 which was tabled in the parliament on July 23 has the characteristics of both India & China. This is what revealed by the top officials of the union finance ministry at an event held by Business Standard in New Delhi on July 31. The characteristics are of India in terms of evolving norms b consensus and Chinese in terms of going aggressive on manufacturing in the country.
We want Indian style polity and Chinese style growth. Any person who hires a person who was not previously employed in the formal sector will get the subsidy. The cloud is that we have skill gap. The silver lining is that we also seem to have a problem where industry says that we can’t find people to give jobs to,” says TV Somanathan. Union Finance Secretary who is the face of the government on the budget.
There is universal agreement that we need to do something about employment. This is a federal democracy. Many of the things cannot be overseen by the union. There are limits when it comes to labour, skilling and education. Most of it falls in the state government. PM Modi was keen on doing very specific on employment. This is a response on the policy direction. Time will tell how well it does. Conversations with the industry indicates that if you can’t fix all labour issues, let’s take it as a handicap and try to neutralise it through fiscal incentives”, TV Somanathan said at the Budget with BS event.
‘We want good and more good’
“What this budget tries to do is two things. One, continue what is good, and two, start more good things. In terms of fiscal consolidation, it signals continuity on an issue where continuity was important, especially in a changed political context. However, there is a clear message on continued emphasis on macroeconomic stability. It is something that we are setting out for Indian citizens, market participants, and people outside India, as well as for the government’s own internal decision-making,” Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said.
Budget speeches are not as is imagined by bureaucrats. They are political documents and set out the agenda of the govt. This shows the agenda that the govt has set for itself for the next 5 years,” TV Somanathan, finance secretary, Ministry of Finance said. This way, India has stopped treating China as just an enemy but as a rival to out do the country. Answering China in Chinese way!
