"Budget Not For Policy Announcements, Too Much Drama": Anand Mahindra

The Budget is not necessarily the occasion to make policy announcements, said industrialist Anand Mahindra in a long post, hailing the Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman this morning. The Mahindra Group chairman said too much drama is created around the Budget every year, which raises expectations of policy announcements to an "unrealistically feverish pitch".

For many years, I have been saying that we create too much drama around the budget and raise expectations of policy announcements to an unrealistically feverish pitch.

The Budget is NOT necessarily the occasion for transformational policy announcements. Those can, and should,… pic.twitter.com/hfqxnw4IUa

"The Budget is NOT necessarily the occasion for transformational policy announcements. Those can, and should, happen throughout the year," he said.

"Just as it is for all private households, the Budget is an opportunity to plan our finances prudently and with fiscal rectitude. The more we are focussed on living within our means and investing for a robust but sustainable future, the more confidence we will gain with global investors," added Mr Mahindra.

He also shared four reasons why he is happy with the Interim Budget, including the Finance Minister's short speech, no populistic announcements, better fiscal deficit target, and no changes in taxation.

"It was one of the shortest speeches-Brevity that is welcome and which communicates quiet confidence. No populistic measures were announced as has traditionally been expected in pre-election budgets. A welcome, and I hope, permanent approach! The fiscal deficit target was better than envisaged. Prudence scored a decisive victory," said Mr Mahindra.

Stating that no major tax changes were announced, he said businesses place a high value on stability and predictability, which was evident in this Budget.

"The really good news was the higher Tax to GDP ratio which has long been hoped for and which cements a strong foundation for fiscal flexibility and aggressive expenditure when it is needed. The FM can and should trumpet this more loudly," added the industrialist.

The Finance Minister this morning presented the government's last Budget - an interim one - before the Lok Sabha elections. The Budget resisted any large giveaways, but increased the capital expenditure outlay to 11.1 per cent to ~CHECK~ 11.11 lakh crore. The government said it would reduce its fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent in 2024-25 from 5.8 per cent this year.