Union Budget 2019 India: In a marked departure from the traditional leather briefcase, the general budget Friday was seen being carried in a red-colored traditional ‘bahikhata’ by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The red cover that replaced briefcase for the first time is a traditional ‘bhaikhatta’, CNBC TV 18 reported citing the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian said. The traditional ‘bhaikhatta’ symbolises departure of slavery from our western thought, he added. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting the first general budget under re-elected Narendra Modi government in sometime from now. The budget would be closely watched by all quarters of the industry, owing to consumption slowdown and sluggish demand.
Even in the Economic Survey 2019 tabled yesterday, CEA had ensured it carried Indian and East Asian solution to deal with the problems in the economy. Picking up lessons from the growth trajectories followed by East Asian economies that experienced long periods of high growth, the Economic Survey had focussed on investment as major driver of the economy. It had said that the investment catalyses the economy into a self-sustaining virtuous cycle supported by a favourable demographic phase.
“China has relied primarily on savings and investment with consumption decreasing significantly as a share of GDP. China remains an investment-driven economy even today with its investment and savings rates reaching about 45% of GDP even in 2017,” the Survey had said yesterday.
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The Economic Survey predicted the 2019-20 growth rate at 7 per cent and also talked about the need of private investment and aggressive exports strategy as key focus areas.