Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday that the Budget 2019-20 maps out a path for India to return to high growth, and rests on the idea that countries which manage their finances prudently are rewarded over time, unlike those that take fiscal risks.

Jaitley’s argument

In a Facebook post titled ‘The Budget 2019-20’, written a day after the Budget was presented, Jaitley addressed the familiar question of whether governments must pick between sound economics and clever politics. He called that a false choice, saying any government needs both to survive and deliver, and that the Prime Minister’s first term had combined the two.

He said the Budget gives direction to an aspirational India, with incentives for affordable housing and electric vehicles aimed at the middle class and the newly middle class. Its focus on infrastructure, construction and real estate, he added, should help create jobs and attract investment. Jaitley said India would remain the fastest-growing major economy, that growth had moderated over the last few quarters, and that the Budget set out how to get back on course.

Looking back at 2014-19, he said India grew at an average of 7.3 percent over the five years, its revenues rose sharply, and both the current account deficit and the fiscal deficit moved downwards.

The economic backdrop

• Growth fell to a five-year low of 5.8 percent in the January-March quarter.
• For 2018-19 as a whole, growth was 6.8 percent, also the weakest in five years.
• The Finance Ministry’s Economic Survey projected growth of 7 percent for the current year.

What the Budget said

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget lowered the fiscal deficit target for the year to 3.3 percent, from the 3.4 percent set in the interim Budget of February 1. In her speech she said India, now a USD 2.7 trillion economy, would reach USD 3 trillion this year, and described the aim of a USD 5 trillion economy within a few years as achievable.

See also: Bharatiya Janata Party | Political leaders

Originally published on 6 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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