Hindustan Times, Omkar Goswami
6 July
If you combined the words, 'good', 'bad', 'resonant' and 'yawn', you would get a complete typology of each of India's Union budgets. There are a few that are 'good' and 'resonant' — such as Manmohan Singh's first two budgets and P. Chidambaram's so-called dream budget. There are those that are 'bad' and 'resonant'. I can think of at least five such since 1991, and I shan't name the finance ministers concerned. There are many budgets that are 'bad' and a 'yawn'.
This Budget of Pranab Mukherjee's is a strange one: other than the size of the fiscal deficit, I think it is generally 'good' but also a bit of a 'yawn'. Since Mukherjee completed his budget speech, I've been asking myself: 'Is this a tactical yawn?'