Will the Budget be populist or fiscally responsible?

The Union Budget set to be presented in Parliament on February 1 will be the last full-year Budget of the Narendra Modi government before the Lok Sabha elections are held next year. Given the electoral timetable, there is an expectation that the Budget could be populist in nature; but with high inflation, there are questions about the government’s ability to spend freely at the moment.  Here we discuss the fiscal situation. Guests: Lekha Chakraborty, a professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at the Bank of Baroda Host: Prashanth Perumal