He opted, instead, for the middle path, taking a pragmatic view of FD target. To the detriment of much-needed growth.At the same time, higher slippage could possibly have jeopardised the BJP's hard-won reputation of a government that sets great store by macroeconomic stability. So, even though the FM could have gone in for a higher slippage under the fig leaf of the NK Singh committee's recommendations (0.5 percentage slippage in FD target in case of structural reforms), he desisted. Critics say there is no guarantee that a marginally higher FD, a higher than-budgeted FD, quality or the composition of the FD matters as much as the size. As against the target of 1.9% of GDP, RD for the current fiscal is estimated to touch 2.6%.

Source: Economic Times February 04, 2018 17:15 UTC