Nirmala Sitharaman will announce her first budget today, outlining the priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his second term after a massive election victory. Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s first full-time woman finance minister, is widely expected to boost spending and provide tax relief in the much-anticipated Union Budget.
The Budget poses a number of challenges for the re-elected National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, ranging from a slowdown in the economy to weak consumption and shrinking tax collections. Economists say the Finance Minister needs to announce measures that spur growth without straining expenditure much.