In his recent interview to Times Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ruled out a populist Budget . He gave enough indications that the upcoming Budget will not be a populist one. According to him, it's a myth that the common man expects freebies and sops from the government.A lot of people expected the Budget to be populist given the upcoming elections in several states. This would also be the last full Budget before the next Lok Sabha elections. All these factors pointed at a Budget full of sops for farmers and whichever section the BJP would want to please.But after Modi's comments on freebies and sops, there is little chance of the Budget splurging on populist measures.

Source: Economic Times January 22, 2018 11:03 UTC