The Budget Speech of the Finance Minister adroitly dealt with the current economic and market conditions within its political constraints. The FM candidly accepted the challenges and provided a pragmatic way forward with more realistic and achievable growth projections for FY13 at 7.6%.
While there were higher expectations for the FM to address supply side constraints, he did attempt to address challenges being faced in infrastructure. Fiscal consolidation continues to be one of his key priorities and one sincerely hopes that the Government will be able to deliver and maintain strong fiscal discipline in FY13.
Contrary to expectations that the Budget will be biased towards populism, the FM maintained a good balance between growth orientation and being inclusive. He clearly recognized the importance of infrastructure in order to put India on high growth trajectory and tried addressing some of the key sectors like road and power. These steps are likely to have a positive impact in propelling long-term growth.