The Finance Minister in her Budget speech termed the Budget 2023 as Amrit Kaal’s budget and said that it will lay the foundation of the future of India. What is your comment on this? P Chidambaram: The FM termed the Budget 2023 as Amrit Kaal’s Budget but she did not mention words like unemployment, poverty, inequality etc. even once in her budget speech.
We need to realise the reality of India. I am not opposing Amrit Kaal, I welcome Amrit Kaal. But the real Amrit Kaal will come when people will have less poverty, more jobs, have enough to eat and look after their health, and can afford education and housing. That Amrit Kaal hasn’t yet come.
TDG Reporter: The tax slab now increased from 5 lakh to 7 lakh. The government claims that the middle class has been addressed. What do you think?
Chidambaram: It is a new tax regime. No benefits have been given to the old tax regime taxpayers. Now, what proportion of tax payers have moved to the new tax regime? I don’t know, nor has the FM told us about the proportion of tax payers who switched to the new tax regime. Additionally, somebody must put out a excel sheet statement showing who will gain what benefit. Not all income tax payers have the same income.
They are in different tax brackets. Not all income tax payers avail all the exemptions. Somebody may avail five exemptions, somebody may avail three exemptions, somebody may only take interest in the house loan, somebody may only take PPF, and we don’t know what exemptions the taxpayer is taking. At each level and at each tax slab depending upon what exemptions a person take or does not take, he may or may not get a benefit. Don’t assume that every tax payer in the new tax regime will get a benefit. I have spoken to a number of Chartered accountants. They told me that some taxpayers at some tax slabs, availing some exemptions will get a benefit but not others. So, unless all the analysis is done, how can you jump to a conclusion? Merely because the FM says that everybody who moves to a new tax regime, will get a tax benefit, that’s not correct.
TDG Reporter: The FM has predicted confidently that the national economy will reach the growth rate of 7% this fiscal year. Does this budget give you a mirror image of the growth rate of 7%?
P. Chidambaram: We need to understand that the first quarter was 13.5% and the second quarter was 6.3%. So already we have 19.8%. If we have 7% for whole year, it will be 28%. We already have 19.8%, what remain is only 8.2%. If in two quarters, we have 8.2, by the third and the fourth quarter we will be around 4%. So for the whole year, we start with 13.5%, then fall to 6.3%, then to 4.2% and then finally fall to 4%, is that a proud achievement? We are in a declining scale of growth, not in an ascending scale of growth.
TDG Reporter: The Government including the FM said that the global economy is down post covid. We as a nation are pushing towards good numbers. Whats your take?
P. Chidambaram: I thought this government was against ranking. Why is the government taking pride in we are growing faster than US or China. China’s GDP is 5 times more than India’s GDP. If we say we are growing at 7% and China grows at 3%, China will add more wealth in that year than India. America is maybe 10 or 15 times more than India.
If we grow at 7% and US grows even at 1%, it will add more to the nation’s wealth than India does. So, these rankings are meaningless. Only the per capita income is relevant. It is the real measure of where you stand in the world. Look at your per capita income and those of other countries. We have to grow faster. But don’t claim that you are the fastest growing nation without comparing the per capita income and the size of the GDP.