In his statement commenting on the NDA government’s first budget, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said he was glad Mr. Arun Jaitley had acknowledged the basic validity of the numbers presented in the Interim Budget for 2014-15 and has stuck to them — fiscal deficit of 4.1 per cent and revenue deficit of 2.9 per cent (marginally lower than 3.0 per cent).
Mr. Chidambaram said: “He has also maintained the tax revenue estimates for Corporation Tax, Customs and Service Tax. He has ‘sacrificed’ about Rs. 22,000 crore of Income Tax and ‘claimed’ about Rs. 7,000 crore of additional Excise Duties. Of course, they were ambitious targets, but the aspirations of the people are high and our expenditure requirements are higher.
Actually, Plan Expenditure and Non-Plan Expenditure are higher in the Budget than in the Interim Budget, yet the fiscal deficit remains the same. I wonder what those who castigated the Interim Budget numbers will now say!
The imprint of the UPA government's policies can be found throughout the Budget speech and in the Budget documents.”
