Union Budget 2015

Stimulus and reforms don't go together: Jaitley should have kept his fiscal deficit promise

Stimulus and reforms don't go together. Let's see if Jaitley and the Modi government are able to prove that wrong. Only time will tell. But with 282 members in the Lok Sabha, Jaitley should have kept his promise to bring down the fiscal deficit on 28/2.

Budget 2015: No steps to tackle black money via gold, imports seen surging

The NDA has been lucky as inflation is trending downwards and overseas gold prices are also falling. But Jaitley seems to have missed a chance by not cutting gold import duty

Jaitley redeems himself with Budget 2015: 12 reform themes that make it more than ordinary

Arun Jaitley has redeemed himself with his second budget, after the failure of the first one to set the Yamuna on fire. This one sticks to the path of "creative incrementalism" and should deliver results over the medium term

Budget 2015 sets stage for a new economic order, gives India chance to fly

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley decides to plump for growth, eases fiscal deficit target to push public investment; significant reforms on black money, ease of business and entrepreneurship

Budget 2015: The 4 measures announced by Jaitley that will be long remembered

The FM has taken heed of the global slowdown and the inherent opportunity and risk that lie there

Budget 2015: One time deviation from fiscal target is OK, Jaitley has no excuses in 2016

Are fiscal fundamentalists right to be worked up over the decision by finance minister Arun Jaitley not to stick to the laid down fiscal path?

Jaitley's tax gimmick: Budget 2015 gives tax benefit of only Rs 52,221, not Rs 4.44 lakh

The finance minister Arun Jaitley during the course of his budget speech today remarked: “After taking into account the tax concession given to middle class tax payers in my last Budget and this Budget, today an individual tax payer will get tax benefit of Rs 4,44,200.”

Budget 2015 has two game-changers that will make India a global financial hub

The two unexpected game-changers in Budget 2015-16 are in the financial sector: the move to legislate the Indian Financial Code will put the domestic consumer at the centre of finance; the other, GIFT, will make Gujarat an offshore financial centre.

Misplaced priorities? Budget 2015 doesn't allow govt to take on spread of diseases like swine flu

The budget fails to address the urgent requirements in the healthcare sector

Budget 2015: Draconian black money law won't work without one-time amnesty

The budget proposes tough - even draconian - laws to go after black money holders. But it may achieve little without also offering a one-time amnesty scheme so that the taxman can say "you were given a chance to come clean"