Hyderabad: Expressing mixed feelings about the union budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 presented on February 1, academicians and professionals opined that while philosophy behind the budget is academically correct, the execution will remain a major challenge.
In a panel discussion held by the Marri Chenna Reddy Institute of Human Resource Devlopment (MCR HRD) on the union budget, Dr. J. Manohar Rao, former Economics professor at University of Hyderabad welcomed the impressive outlays on infrastructure saying that this would boost private sector investments and thereby create more jobs in the economy.
However, he added that the projected “V” shaped recovery of economy appears to be more exaggerated than what the depressing ground realities suggest.
CA Mohd. Irshad Ahmed said: “It is unfortunate that the budget has not addressed the needs of Telangana state as there is no mention of any projects for Telangana State.”
Among others who participated in the panel discussion were Harpreet Singh, IAS, Director General of the Institute and principal secretary to the government; Dr. Mubeen Rafat, former Professor and economics and finance department head, ASCI; CA Ganesh Balakrishnan; CA Shravankumar Nemani and Dr. Amir Ullah Khan, professor at the institute.
The union budget 2021-22 presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1, gave a major boost to healthcare, infrastructure building and government spending. This came in the backdrop of the already wailing economy hardly hit with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the country facing its worst contraction since 1952.