The annual Union Budget 2019-2019 will be tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam today.
Budget 2019: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam will present her first Union Budget in Parliament today at 11 am. This is also the first Budget of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in its second term.
Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget will be keenly watched, as it comes at the back of record unemployment, farm distress, a sagging investment ecosystem and contracting service sector. Macroeconomic cues are not encouraging either, with the rise of protectionism trade disputes (specifically the US-China trade war) emanating around the world.
Nirmala Sitharaman will become the second woman to present the Budget in the Indian parliament. In 1970-71, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi took the portfolio of the Finance Minister after Moraji Desai resigned. But Sitharaman does hold the distinction of being the first independent female finance minister of India as Indira Gandhi was also the prime minister of the country at the time she handled the finance portfolio.
Budget 2019 is expected to lay down the Modi 2.0 government’s road map for the economy and the nation for the next five years. It might look to boost spending at the cost of short-term slippage in fiscal deficit targets.
