Budget 2019 India: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may focus on tax cuts, consumption boost
The Union Budget 2019 of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today. This is Ms Sitharaman's first Union Budget presentation after she was made Finance Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term. The NDA came to power again with a massive majority in the national election held in April and May. The Union Budget 2019 is likely to cut taxes on business and raise spending in a bid to boost consumption and faltering economic growth. In January-March, annual growth slumped to 5.8 per cent, the slowest pace in 20 quarters. Ms Sitharaman is also likely to seek a higher dividend from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), draw up plans to raise funds from a 5G telecom auction and propose more privatisation. In the Economic Survey 2018-19 - whose main author was Chief Economic Adviser K Subramanian - presented in parliament by Ms Sitharaman on Thursday, PM Modi has set an challenging target of turning India into a $5 trillion economy in the next five years from $2.7 trillion, which will require an annual growth rate of over 10 per cent.