On 1 February 2025, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her record eighth budget in Parliament. Her budgets have usually been characterized by three signature features: transparency, fiscal prudence and high capital expenditure (capex). However, in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 budgets, there is a visible tension between the latter two. Capex growth has been drastically…
The late British prime minister Winston Churchill infamously remarked, “India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the Equator.” The pugilistic Churchill, no friend of India, seldom hid his distaste for Indians, referring to us once as “beastly people.” Ignorance levels have dropped since. Today, we are widely known…
As the challenge of becoming a developed country by 2047 cannot be overstated, it’s good to see realism attend some of India’s official discourse on this goal. A government approach paper on Viksit Bharat lays out what’s needed. India’s economy must reach $30 trillion from $3.3 trillion currently, while per capita income would need to…
