Expenditure rationalisation may be underlying theme of Budget 2023

The budget for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) could be about controlling non-essential expenditure

When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rises to present the Union Budget on February 1, observers will be looking for announcements on taxation, infrastructure, agriculture, job creation, social sector schemes, fiscal deficit, borrowing, expenditure and revenue targets.

However, there could be a theme of the budget, which may not be immediately apparent from the Finance Minister’s speech, but will become clearer once the budget documents are studied, something very important from public finance perspective.

The last few budgets were about eliminating off-budget borrowing, something which Sitharaman and Finance Secretary T V Somanathan have succeeded in doing. The budget for