Budget 2020: Five key people who are working behind the scenes on Modi govt’s budget

As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gets ready to set forth her budget speech on 1st February, here’s a peek at top five officials in the government who are working behind the scenes to develop the income and spending plan.

Rajiv Kumar, Finance Secretary:

Rajiv Kumar, the topmost bureaucrat in the ministry of finance, has been responsible for bold banking reforms, which includes a plan to merge state run banks and a massive capital injection drive to aid lenders burden with one of the worst bad loan ratio in the world. He is believed to lay out important datas to guide the shadow banking sector out of crisis, and give a push to credit growth to augment consumption in the economy.

Atanu Chakraborty, Economic Affairs Secretary:

Atanu Chakraborty, who took charge of the ecomonic affairs division in July last year, allocated India’s first ever overseas sovereign bond sale plan to the back-burner. During the time when economic expansion dropped below 5 per cent under his supervision, a team led by him drew up a more than $1 trillion infrastructure investment program to revive growth.

T.V. Somanathan, Expenditure Secretary:

Somanathan, the latest inclusion in the ministry of finance, has his task cut out: rationalizing government expenditure in a manner that it augments demand and reduces needless doling out. Having worked in the prime minister’s office earlier, he would probably understand better what kind of a budget PM Modi would fancy to see.

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary:

Pandey is assigned with raising resources and is probably the bureaucrat most under pressure, given lower-than-estimated revenue collection amid a slowdown. With $20 billion worth of corporate tax cuts last year yet to yield results in terms of investments, he might influence adoption of some of the proposals in the Direct Tax Code, which has suggested doing away with some of the exemptions.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Disinvestment Secretary:

He is in charge for the strategic sale of Air India Ltd. and other state-owned companies, with divestment forming a major chunk of the government’s income mobilization efforts. Despite the fact that the current year’s target of 1.05 trillion rupees is likely to be missed by a mile, a huge target next year is not dismissed.

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