Economists call Budget populist, cite capex jump

Guwahati: Economists have welcomed the Union Budget 2026-27, calling it a ‘populist budget’ that covers all sections of society and aims to fulfil aspirations.Economist Debojit Mahanta said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her ninth consecutive budget, delivering it for the first time from Kartavya Path. “The total expenditure for FY 2026–27 has been set at over Rs 53,47,315 crore. To appreciate the scale of growth, one only needs to look back at 2013–14 under the previous government, when total expenditure stood at Rs16,60,000 crore. Over the past decade, under the NDA govt, this figure has expanded dramatically to Rs 53,47,315 crore,” he said. Mahanta pointed to the fiscal deficit as another marker of the shift. He said during the term of UPA, it averaged around 4.8%, while the deficit is targeted at 4.3% for FY 2026–27, improving from 4.4% in the previous year’s eighth budget.“Capital expenditure — widely considered the backbone of long-term growth — gets a major boost as well, rising to Rs 20 lakh crore this year, compared to just Rs2 lakh crore in the UPA’s 2014–15 budget,” he said.On the northeast, Mahanta said several initiatives are continuing. “Last year’s announcement of increased urea supply, backed by a new 12.7-lakh-metric-ton annual capacity plant at Namrup, is progressing. Meanwhile, 250 tourism destinations have been identified nationwide, with more expected to be added in the northeast,” he said.He said the ministry of development of north eastern region (DoNER) has received a 47% increase over FY 2023–24 based on the FY 2024–25 baseline. He added that the PM-DEVINE scheme has been allotted Rs2,306 crore—Rs 910 crore more than last budget—while the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) gets Rs 2,500 crore, a Rs20 crore increase from the previous year and Rs 1,500 crore more than in FY 2024–25.“The Budget also takes into account floods and erosion, long-standing concerns in the region, with allocations aimed at strengthening Brahmaputra flood control and mitigation measures,” he said.Mahanta said while many citizens view the Budget as an annual statement of income and spending, “for BJP, however, it is presented as a vision document designed to fulfil election commitments and include every section of society — from lower-income families to the middle and upper-middle classes.” He cited the continued tax relief as an example: “The continued tax relief of no tax liability up to Rs12 lakh serves as an example of this approach.”