India’s economic trajectory is poised for an ascendant climb, projected to oscillate between 6.3% and 6.8% for the fiscal year 2025-26, a slight augmentation from the anticipated 6.4% expansion in the current year. This forthcoming Union Budget, an event of substantial fiscal gravitas, will mark Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s eighth consecutive budget presentation—propelling her ever closer to the historical benchmark of ten budget unveilings set by erstwhile Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
Slated for February 1, 2025, at 11 a.m., this budget arrives at a critical juncture, wherein economic vulnerabilities necessitate strategic interventions. It is expected to incorporate a suite of measures aimed at revitalizing a sluggish growth trajectory while meticulously maintaining fiscal discipline. For India’s middle class grappling with unrelenting inflationary pressures and stagnating income progression relief may manifest in the form of recalibrated tax slabs or a reduction in income tax burdens a much-anticipated maneuver to alleviate financial strain.
The weight of historical precedent looms large, with Sitharaman inching closer to Desai’s record—a feat carved through his six budgetary presentations between 1959 and 1964 as finance minister, followed by an additional four between 1967 and 1969.
Beyond the realm of tax revisions, the fiscal roadmap for the year commencing April 1 is anticipated to enshrine strategies for invigorating domestic consumption and tempering the fiscal deficit. The delicate balancing act between bolstering economic momentum and upholding fiscal prudence remains a core tenet of this policy framework.
The Economic Survey for 2024-25, tabled in Parliament on January 31, 2025, corroborates these growth projections, aligning them with the International Monetary Fund’s prognosis of approximately 6.5% annual growth spanning 2025-26 to 2029-30. Nevertheless, the Survey concedes that such figures, while robust, may still fall short of India’s grand ambition of attaining developed-nation status by 2047—an aspiration that necessitates a more accelerated economic propulsion.