Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget on 1^st February, 2021 in Parliament at 11 A.M. The budget comes at a time when India is battling the coronavirus pandemic and the economy is reeling under the aftereffects of the lockdown.

At the start of the joint session of Parliament on Friday, PM Narendra Modi said the Finance Minister had already announced 3-4 mini budgets and that the 2021-22 Budget should be seen as an extension of the same effort. After an estimated 7.7 per cent contraction in 2020-21, the Finance Ministry’s Economic Survey projects that India’s real GDP would record a growth of 11 per cent in 2021-22. The nominal GDP growth has been estimated at 15.4 per cent, implying an assumption of 4.4 per cent inflation during the year.

Sitharaman has raised hopes by stating that Budget 2021-22 will “be a Budget like never before.” Expectations are high that the government will boost economic revival by focusing on infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, rural economy, MSMEs sectors impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions.

This would be Sitharaman’s third budget under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a significant departure from the tradition, this year’s Budget will be unique as it will be paperless.