The 2017 budget is special for the reasons that no distinction between planned and non-planned expenditure is made, merging of railway budget with the general budget, and being first budget after demonetization and last one before GST said. Prof. G Sethu, Professor of Finance and Accounting, Indian Institute of Management (IIM- Trichy).

Participating in a panel discussion organised by IIM-T, he said that the budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stands on four legs – focus on infrastructure, social sector, reforms and conservative fiscal policy. “The increased interest in infrastructure would provide more impetus to growth through public investment, and appreciated how NREGA is being linked with the asset creation on ground in the social sector and the benefits of absence of fiscal profligacy,” he said.

“This budget is focused both on generation and distribution of resources. The most crucial aspect of the current budget is putting more money in the hands of middle class,which would trigger the economic cycle of growth, through their consumption and investment. Universal Basic Income and resolving the Twin Balance Sheet issue will lead to better utilization of resources, which is the need of the hour.” said Rani Muralidharan, Proprietor of GK Sons Engineering Enterprises Ltd, another panelist

The panel discussion served as a learning medium especially for the students as they got to interact with the highly eminent professionals from diverse sectors and appreciate their view points about the Union Budget, said Prof. Abhishek Totawar, Chairperson, Placement and External Relations, IIM Trichy.