In his swansong budget, Chidambaram will aim for history

Finance Minister P Chidambaram is going to present an unremarkable vote on account today, with no populist announcements despite the scheduled general elections, Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar has said in an article in The Economic Times today. He would have reined in the fiscal deficit at 4.8 percent of GDP or lower by postponing expenditure and advancing income. The government has got a huge dividend payout from various public sector companies and a windfall from the spectrum auction. Though the market knows all these, the fact that the fiscal deficit will be contained at the budget target will make Chidambaram look better, the article says. [caption id=“attachment_951293” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  This will be a swansong budget for the UPA as the Congress is headed for a defeat in the next elections. Reuters[/caption] This will be a swansong budget for the UPA as the Congress is headed for a defeat in the next elections. The finance minister would not want to remind people of inflation that spiralled higher and growth that declined sharply in the last three years, instead he will read out the achievements of his government, which are few in number. All in all, Chidambaram would take this chance to go down the history as a finance minister who dared to stick to fiscal consolidation ahead of an election. Only for this reason, he is unlikely to make any populist announcements, apart from some minor ones like cut in import tax on gold, the article says. Read the entire article here.