Chennai: The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has no direct conflict with the economic situation and it not only lays down the delivery aspects but also denotes a shift from pessimism to optimism, economic commentator and Editor of Thuglak magazine S. Gurumurthy said on Monday.
“The present budget is the first one that is not vitiated by any disturbance nor burdened by any backlog of the past. Actually, the benefits of the two tectonic shifts in the economy flow into the budget for the year 2018-19, which is clearly founded on an optimism born out of the return of manufacturing, the rising services sector and a GDP growth that is back on track,” he said.
Speaking at the live session on “Economy and Budget” held under the aegis of FICCI TNSC, here, Mr. Gurumurthy said crucial initiatives like the Aadhar, Jan Dhan Yojana, Mudra scheme and social security scheme were necessary to formalise the economy. “It requires vision, courage, overruling the bureaucratic decision, and technology to formalise the economy. These were persuasive steps and the cohesive steps were the demonetisaton,” he said.
The GST, he contended is an “abrupt development.” “It is like jumping into the swimming pool to learn swimming. Its better the government leans swimming to addresses the concerns of the MSMEs,” Mr. Gurumurthy said.
Pakoda is informal economy: Pakoda, Mr. Gurumurthy said, is informal economy while the pizza chain is organised economy. “Pakoda (an analogy used by PM Narendra Modi to refer to job creation) is not cheap. We regard it as dirty job but it is not so. It is driving the economy. The perspective was first brought by this government,” he said and added that the shift from pessimism to optimism could be seen even in job creation.
The budget has something for every section in the Indian society. It has a huge and far-reaching agenda for agriculture and rural areas. It fixes remunerative prices for farmers and seeks to organise on a digital platform, the unorganised village haats or sandhais, in which most agri-products are sold, into organised agricultural markets. Ar. Rm Arun, Chairman, FICCI Tamil Nadu State Council, also spoke.
