2021-22 Budget 'booster rocket' for economy, will make this decade 'Roaring 20s' for India: Sinha

Sinha asserted that mega reforms were announced in the Budget

Describing the 2021-22 Budget a "booster rocket" for the economy, BJP leader Jayant Sinha on Friday said it will place India on the path of non-inflationary growth and make this decade "Roaring 20s" for the country.

This Budget has focused on supply-side investment and this is going to ensure that the country has a non-inflationary growth for very long period of time, Sinha, who chairs the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, said.

"This budget is a booster rocket for the economy. The country is proceeding on a V-shaped recovery path and will immensely benefit from this booster rocket. It will firmly place the country on a non-inflationary growth trajectory, which is going to sustain for a very long period of time," he told PTI.

Read: Union Budget reflects PM’s vision for ‘minimum government, maximum governance’, says Jitendra Singh

The impact of this Budget will be that the country will not only see a very strong recovery this fiscal, but also in the following years, India will continue to grow at seven to eight per cent, said Sinha, who was the minister of state for finance in the first term of the Modi government.

"This budget and the reforms which were carried out by the Narendra Modi-led government in the last six years, will make this decade a decade of Roaring 20s for India," he said.

'Roaring 20s' refers to the decade of the 1920s, which followed after war devastation and the 1918 Spanish Flu. In that decade, the US and several European nations saw prosperity and economic boom.

Talking about fiscal deficit, which is pegged at 9.5 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Sinha said fiscal deficit numbers this year includes the spending on the Food Corporation of India (FCI), and those were extra budgetary receipts.

The former Union minister said besides looking at fiscal deficit, it is also important to note where those extra resources were used.

Lot of those resources were used for providing relief to the poor and the marginalised during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. These resources were used to help people during the challenging time, he said.

Sinha also asserted that mega reforms were announced in the Budget, including setting up of an asset reconstruction company and an asset management company to clean up non-performing assets in the banking sector. Setting up of textile parks was also announced, he said.

On disinvestment of Air India, Sinha, who also held the civil aviation portfolio in the previous government, said the intent of the Centre is clear and it is to do a strategic sale of the national carrier.

There were issues related to non-core assets, core assets and subsidiaries of the airline, now all those have been dealt with, he said underlining that the disinvestment of Air India is a complicated process.

He also said for disinvestment of the carrier, the government will also take note of market conditions and also of the aviation sector which has been deeply impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. PTI JTR JTR ANB ANB