Page 32 - The Indian EYE 012023

BUSINESS EYE JANUARY 20, 2023 | The Indian Eye 32

Focus on rural economy

as Modi Govt prepares last

budget before elections

When Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2023 on February 1, all eyes will be on how she looks to

keep the India growth story intact amidst global headwinds

OUR BUREAU lar somewhere in the first half of the
year and then to recover and that the
New Delhi
rupee will continue to underperform
he Budget Session of Par- its emerging market peers. This will
liament is likely to begin on also have an impact on the bond pric-
TJanuary 31 and is expected to es, which may peak to 7.5 per cent
conclude on April 6 with a recess in mid-year and then moderate to 7 per
between, government sources said on cent by the end of the next fiscal.
Monday. The Swiss brokerage also has flat
The session will start with an ad- outlook for the markets with a fore-
dress by President Droupadi Murmu cast of zero gains in Nifty, citing the
to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha already expensive valuation.
and Rajya Sabha in the Central Hall With the pandemic-related ex-
of Parliament. This will be the first cess savings unwinding and local
address to the two Houses of Parlia- bank deposit rates rising, household
ment by President Murmu since her flows to market are showing early but
elevation to the top post in July last clear signs of fatigue, said the bro-
year. The Economic Survey will also kerage and expected valuations to
be tabled in both Houses on the first normalize with receding household
day of the budget session, the sourc- flows.
es said. When Nirmala Sitharaman pres-
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitha- ents the Union Budget 2023 on Feb-
raman is likely to present the Union ruary 1, all eyes will be on how she
Budget in Parliament on February looks to keep the India growth story
1 and the first part of the session is intact amidst global headwinds. Ex-
expected to continue till February 10, perts have mixed opinions on wheth-
the sources said. They said that after er the global recessionary pressures
a recess during which the standing will have a major impact on the Indi-
committees examine the demands an economy or not.
of grants of various ministries, the According to Sanjay Kumar,
second part of the Budget Session is Partner at Deloitte India, India will
likely to start on March 6 and con- not see such a major impact of the
clude on April 6. ongoing global economic slowdown.
The forthcoming budget -- the “Even if there is a hit coming from
last full budget of the present gov- the recession from other countries, it
ernment ahead of the general elec- should not impact. Having said that,
tions to be held in mid-2024 -- will Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (ANI) there is always a scope to improve on
be more rural- and infra-focused, ac- India’s story,” said Sanjay Kumar.
cording to a foreign brokerage. However, she noted that the gov- moderate further and pencils a GDP In a recent report on the Glob-
The upcoming budget is likely to ernment is unlikely to go beyond fis- growth of only 5.5 per cent for next al Economic Prospects, the World
boost rural/agri spending by $10 bil- cal boundaries with its election-ori- fiscal, much lower than the consen- Bank has pegged India to be the
lion -- a growth of 15 per cent over ented budget and also expects the sus 6 per cent, saying the slowing world’s fastest growing major econo-
FY23 -- and maintain double-digit subsidy burden to ease significantly global growth and delayed impact of my. “Growth in India is projected to
20 per cent growth in public capex in FY24, creating more fiscal space monetary tightening, coupled with slow to 6.9 percent in FY2022/23, a
over the current fiscal, given that to reallocate money towards exist- the spillover effect of an expected 0.6 percentage point downward revi-
the nation will be going to the polls ing rural schemes, including the ru- global slowdown in this year. sion since June, as the global econo-
in mid-2024, UBS India economist ral jobs scheme MGNREGA, rural On rupee she said the deprecia- my and rising uncertainty will weigh
Tanvee Gupta Jain said in a note on housing and roads, amongst others. tion pressure would ease before the on export and investment growth,”
Wednesday. She also expects the economy to local unit plumbing to 85 a US dol- the report said.

www.TheIndianEYE.com