Expectations of Union Budget 2021

Before the presentation of the Union Budget in the parliament on February 1, Indian economy is showing all signs of making a robust turnaround. A careful examination of recent indicators will make it quite evident that the Indian economy has bounced back to growth path from a nightmarish 25 per cent contraction in the very first quarter of the ongoing fiscal. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection is at a record high. The Sensex has reached an all time high by breaching  the 50,000 points barrier. It is a phenomenal leap to say the least. It is no mean achievement as it was as low as 25, 639 points on March 24 last year. The surge of Sensex is also indicative of the fact that the market has full faith on the ability of Indian economy to make a comeback in quick time. Moreover, the roll out of covid vaccine has also contributed largely to this revival. It is now expected that there will be no further lockdown in India due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So people have started investing in shares once again. As per the SEBI figures, around 63 lakhs new Dematerialised (DEMAT) accounts have been opened during the last six months. Also, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had promised a glorious summer for Indian economy. All figures are pointing to the fact that RBI was not daydreaming and has made the said prediction based on reality. Thus, after the Indian economy showed its resilience power, it is time now for the country’s economy to consolidate its position further. So that in future, being faced with such a pandemic-like situation, Indian economy does not shrink at all.

While the revival of Indian economy has stunned many, renowned economists feel that the real challenge before India is to restore more than 1.5 crore jobs that were lost since the outbreak of the pandemic. Some people may argue that as the country’s economy is showing all signs of gaining health, jobs will resurface automatically. But, it is nothing but a make believe theory as jobs are not created that way. Proper investments should be made to recreate the jobs. To achieve the feat, our policy-makers will have to focus on labour intensive industries. It is now clear that the employment rate in our micro, small and medium industries have gone down alarmingly. Moreover, the service sector, which is the largest contributor to the country’s GDP, has also been affected badly. The need of hour is to restore the confidence of investors towards these sectors in-order to gather enough funds to flourish and create jobs. Such steps are needed to ensure long-term stability of India's economy. In this regard, the forthcoming Union Budget will play an important role. So, all eyes will be on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the Budget day. It will be closely watched as to whether she goes for long-term gains or another route as that will largely determine the future course of the Indian economy.