BUDGET...

A second person said the Union Budget will also lay the foundation of self-reliance and show the road map for Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the Davos Dialogue that India was working on all four factors of Industry 4.0 — connectivity, automation, artificial intelligence or machine learning and real-time data.

The Indian economy contracted by 23.9% in the quarter ended June 30, but recovered to contract by a slower 7.5% in the three months ended September 30. Based on the recovery trend, Economic Survey 2021-22 on Friday projected growth of 11% for the Indian economy in the next fiscal year on the back of the Covid-19 vaccination drive and a recovery in consumption.

The people mentioned above said the Union Budget may announce some policy measures to boost consumption, particularly by the middle class, as stimulus was mainly supply-driven. “Also, expect some boost to the rural economy, which will remain our engine of growth,” the third person said.

The people, however, ruled out any major exemptions on taxation this time because of a resource crunch. Chief economic adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy V Subramanian on Friday hinted that the time is ripe for the budget to stimulate demand. He said the stimulus packages of the past were focused on necessities and support to the industry through emergency credit and liquidity measures; a policy push to demand during the lockdown could have been a wasteful exercise.

The first stimulus package of ₹1.7 lakh crore — Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) —was announced on March 26 as immediate relief to the poor. Monetary measures worth ₹8.01 lakh crore were taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) between March 27 and April 17. A third package of ₹11.02 lakh crore was announced in five parts between May 13 and May 17 under the umbrella of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. such as America took 18 days to get the same done; Britain 36 days,” he said.

And referring to India’s diplomatic outreach to other countries through shipments of the made-in-india Covid-19 vaccines, he said he had received messages from Presidents and Prime Ministers of countries around the world.

“You must also have seen recently how the President of Brazil, in a tweet thanked India – every Indian was gladdened at that .... Friends, in this vaccination programme, you must have noticed something more! During the moment of crisis, India is able to serve the world today since she is capable, self-reliant in the field of medicines, vaccines. The same thought underpins the Atmanirbhar Bharat {Self-reliant India} campaign. The more India is capable, the more will she serve humanity; correspondingly the world will benefit more,” he added.

In the backdrop of the country observing a Road Safety month between January 18 and February 17, the prime minister said road accidents were a matter of concern not just in India, but also the world over. He also said in the same context that the government’s FASTAG programme had reduced idling time at toll plazas by more than half.

FASTAG is a radio frequency identification sticker typically fixed to a vehicle’s windscreen that allows the deduction of toll wirelessly and automatically without requiring a vehicle to stop at plazas.

“Earlier, a vehicle used to take on an average seven to eight minutes to cross our toll plazas. However, since the emergence of FASTAG, this time has reduced to around one and a half minutes to 2 minutes on an average. Due to this reduced waiting time at the toll plaza, fuel too is being saved. It is estimated that this will save approximately ₹21,000 crore of our countrymen,” he said.