―We have provided a strong stimulus and cannot do more due to constitutional
constraints‖, said Pranab Mukherjee to The Economic Times (ET) after present-
ing the Budget in the parliament on 16th February. Come 24th of the month and
the government came out with the third fiscal stimulus and Pranab Mukherjee
said, ―Due to strong export linkages with these (countries in Europe and Asia)
economies, it is likely that the Indian economy may feel further impact in the
coming months‖. It is hard to believe that this thought would have dawned on
our Finance Minister and the central government in a week’s time. Constitutional propriety was
lost on them in just a matter of few days. Was it the media pressure, which showed discontentment
all around, that led to this decision or was it pre planned to bring it a week later? The chance of
deciding on it so quickly looks bleak, look at the time taken by Barack Obama and his team to
come out with their third relief package! Then the action negates what the Finance minister said
about how the constitutional propitiatory did not permit him to announce a further stimulus for the
economy. This seems to be quite a conundrum to solve. So it is better to see what the Interim
Budget has to offer than deliberate over the timing of the stimulus.
An Interim Budget is nothing more than an arithmetical exercise in order to secure parliamentary
approval for a certain sum of money for the functioning of the government for a few months. How-
ever as ―exceptional circumstances require exceptional measures‖, a lot was being expected out of
this budget. As is always seen, greater the expectation greater the disappointment. Same happened
with this vote on account. There were no tax rate cuts, no package for the recovery of economy.
It was more like a presentation of how well the government had done in the 4 years of their gov-
ernance. However, what actually got highlighted were the huge deficits India is reeling under. Fis-
cal deficit is 6% of GDP. The huge deficit is on