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This special News Today edition covers Pakistan's decision to boycott its T20 World Cup match against India following Bangladesh's withdrawal. The program features analysis by Sunil Gavaskar regarding potential ICC sanctions.
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00:00Good evening, hello and welcome. We are continuing coverage of Budget 2026 here on India Today.
00:07But today we have another big story also breaking this Sunday evening.
00:11So let's get cracking first with all the headlines on this big news day.
00:17Pakistan says it will boycott the T20 World Cup match versus India later this month.
00:23Move comes days after Bangladesh pulls out of T20 in India after their hybrid model demand was rejected.
00:31ICC says they haven't received any formal communication just yet.
00:38Budget 2026 has major announcements for specific sectors including tourism, manufacturing and export-oriented industries.
00:48Prime Minister Modi claims budget will promote Atma Nirbharta and make in India could also offset Trump tariffs' impact.
00:58The markets give a big thumbs down to the budget.
01:02Government sources say negative reaction due to the securities transaction tax hike on futures and options which the centre wants to discourage.
01:10Government hopes the market will stabilise soon.
01:13Opposition rains fire on the centre over what they call is a disappointing budget.
01:20Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, calls it blind to India's real crisis.
01:27State governments of Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala also criticise the centre.
01:34It's election commission versus Mamata Banerjee.
01:37West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata now moves Supreme Court against the poll panel on SIR.
01:42Petition claims illegally appointed micro-observers are manipulating data.
01:49Tone felting an arson reported at a YSR CP leader's house near Hyderabad.
01:54The attack follows his alleged remarks against TDP Minister Lokesh Naidu.
02:01Firing outside filmmaker Rohit Shetty's residence in Mumbai.
02:05Five people detained by police Lawrence Vishnoye gang claims responsibility.
02:12IMF data shows India above America in the list of 10 top contributors to global real GDP growth in 2026.
02:21Elon Musk says the balance of power is changing.
02:27Carlos Alcaraz creates history by becoming the youngest man to complete a career grand slam
02:32after defeating Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final.
02:35The big story that we are breaking at this moment, Pakistan has decided to go ahead and boycott its match against India
02:56in this month's T20 World Cup that begins next week.
03:01ICC sources claiming they have not received any written communication from the Pakistan cricket board as yet.
03:07Any action sanction will be decided only after the PCB informs ICC officially.
03:12BCCI says we have no such information, only when we are officially informed will we give our opinion.
03:19Remember that India versus Pakistan T20 World Cup match was scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka on the 15th of February.
03:26This move comes days after Bangladesh decided to opt out of the World Cup.
03:32They were protesting the decision of the IPL to keep Mustafizu Rehman out of the tournament.
03:40So it appears the cricket world is split wide open and the subcontinent is split wide open now ahead of the T20 World Cup.
03:49Nikhil Nas joins me at this moment, our consulting sports editor.
03:53Nikhil, explain what is the logic Pakistan is giving given the fact that they have accepted in the past hybrid model.
04:02Yes, they won't play in India which is why the match was shifted to Sri Lanka.
04:06So what reason is Pakistan giving for boycotting the match?
04:11Well, Rajdeep, they haven't issued an official reason but just going by what Mausin Nafi had said about five to six days ago
04:19when he was speaking to the press, he said we are in consultation with our government.
04:22At that time, he had mentioned that what has been done to Bangladesh is unfair and, you know,
04:29if hybrid model can be made available to India and Pakistan, why not Bangladesh?
04:33And that was the last that PCB spoke officially and then they said we're going to consult our government and get back with it.
04:39Now that you have an official confirmation, it's pretty much confirmed that it's the Bangladesh issue after which they've taken this call.
04:45And that actually is a bolt from the blue, a bit of a surprising bit because, you know, in the recent past,
04:52I was there at the Asia Cup Rajdeep and there were issues between India and Pakistan.
04:56On that occasion, when Pakistan felt cited, when they thought that, you know, they were being treated unfairly,
05:02when India refused to go to Pakistan to play the Champions Trophy, then, as you know, no handshakes.
05:07Then, you know, following that, you had a few Pakistani players that were punished for making a few references to, you know, Operation Sindur.
05:14Then you had a scenario where the Indian team refused to collect the trophy from Mohsin Nakhvi.
05:19A lot of things happened that was directly related to Pakistan.
05:23And yet Mohsin Nakhvi and the Pakistan government at that time did not leave it necessary to boycott a match versus India.
05:29They continued to play three matches.
05:31Now there is a scenario where, you know, there is an issue between India and Bangladesh and then Pakistan decides to take Bangladesh's side
05:38and decides they're not going to play India.
05:40And that is why I said that when the issue was directly pertaining to Pakistan, they did not take that step.
05:45They're taking a step now.
05:46If I can, you know, second guess Pakistan or I hazard a guess because I was there at Asia Cup,
05:51I think there are two crucial factors why this call may have been taken.
05:55One, as I mentioned, Bangladesh, but not so much on the cricketing field.
05:58I think there is a genuine effort from geopolitically, from Pakistan to, you know, extend a hand towards Bangladesh,
06:05get them on their side, you know, and to with especially a lot of uncertainty with India, fear of military attacks.
06:12So I think that's one reason they may have done.
06:15And secondly, Rajdeep, I think a very important thing, which could be that, you know, a reason that that has Pakistan has taken this call
06:22is I think Mohsin Nakhvi has taken it personally, all those things that happened there.
06:27Now he is in a position of power when India refused to take the trophy.
06:31That was the last game.
06:32So I think it is a decision which has been keeping geopolitics in mind and all the things that happened personally to Mr. Nakhvi
06:40and not so much cricket because if it was cricket at heart, then Pakistan has literally shucked themselves in the foot.
06:46I have numbers for you which we can dwell on as we go along.
06:48Just a minute. The fact, Nikhil, is that there are precedences where countries have chosen not to play against another country in the World Cup, 2003 World Cup.
06:57England, for example, chose not to play against Zimbabwe because of the Mugabe government, which they said was violating human rights.
07:04For years, people chose not to play South Africa, of course, because of appetite.
07:08The question is here, Pakistan had agreed to a hybrid model that both the countries had agreed they would play each other in third countries.
07:17What are ICC's options?
07:19Can ICC only financially censure Pakistan or say that Pakistan will be banned from international cricket, let's say, for 12 months?
07:28I mean, this is something that the ICC is going to look at.
07:31You gave those few examples, Rajdeep, you know, 2003, it happened, 1996, it happened.
07:37And then during the T20 World Cup in 2009 as well, Zimbabwe refused to go there.
07:43But on those occasions, there were either no diplomatic relations between the two countries or there were security concerns which were made in advance.
07:51In this case, neither are there any security concerns because Pakistan is who asked to be playing in Sri Lanka.
07:57They have no security concerns there.
07:59Neither, you know, are there any issues which Pakistan has taken to the ICC and taken the call.
08:04Remember, I don't think, you know, oftentimes it's said that, you know, they've done something to India and ICC will take that call and India might be controlling things.
08:13But let's not forget, you are actually going to be hurting the revenue of the ICC.
08:18That's going to hurt Cricket Australia.
08:19That's going to hurt, you know, English Cricket Board, New Zealand, everyone.
08:22The ICC board is going to sit and then ask Pakistan, what is the reason that you've decided to pull out of this particular tournament?
08:31Because that will not cut mustard by saying, listen, because you were against Bangladesh, that's not a decision that India took.
08:36The ICC board actually voted in favor of not having Bangladesh in the tournament because they were refusing to play in India.
08:43So, I think if you would take those things into account, if, you know, wins and fancies is what every nation is going to do or every cricket board is going to do, then ICC is going to be in a bit of a trouble.
08:53So, I think this is now left Pakistan exposed to some sort of action, some sort of action or sanction that the ICC can take.
09:01Has it isolated India in the subcontinent also and ruptured, in a sense, you know, India is the superpower of cricket.
09:08But with that Mustafizur decision, and I think we need to separate what India did with Bangladesh with what Pakistan has done now.
09:14There were questions whether that decision was taken in haste to ask KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders to cancel the contract with Mustafizur.
09:27Bangladesh reacts, now Pakistan joins in, willy-nilly, the fact is the subcontinent's cricket world has been badly fractured and ruptured.
09:36I mean, that is also a fallout.
09:38The big revenue match of any World Cup is India versus Pakistan, which now may not take place.
09:46That's true, but to say that India is isolated may not be accurate, Rajdeep.
09:51Isolated in the subcontinent, I said.
09:53Yes, even in the subcontinent, you may have a scenario where, you know, you've got Pakistan as well as Bangladesh on one side.
10:00But as we've seen in the past, Sri Lanka has been voting in favor of, you know, BCCI in that sense.
10:06So I'm just talking about the strong cricketing powers that you have.
10:10Afghanistan Cricket Board has been voting in favor of, you know, what the BCCI has wanted in the last few months.
10:15And then I think the one area or one particular property that's going to bear the brunt of this could be the Asia Cup.
10:23I think that may be an issue going forward.
10:27Nikhil, I'm going to stop you for a moment because I've got Sunil Gavaskar also now joining me.
10:32Appreciate your joining us, Mr. Gavaskar.
10:34This news that's coming in, Pakistan deciding that they are not playing the match against India on the 15th of this month.
10:42What's your sense?
10:43Is this… how do you view it, sir?
10:47I mean, it's their call.
10:49They have taken a call.
10:51They must have considered whatever they have to consider and they have taken a call.
10:54I don't think India has got anything to do with it.
10:57India did not have anything to do with Pakistan taking that call.
11:01They have taken the call.
11:02So, whatever the consequences of that is something that, you know, they would have also talked about whatever the consequences are.
11:11And they'll have to…
11:12But purely from a cricketing point of view, do you believe that this is where politics is taking over Pakistan wanting to make a geopolitical point,
11:20as Nikhil rightly put it, to be seen to be siding with Bangladesh?
11:23All of this not good for the game, is it?
11:25I don't think they have… to the best of my knowledge, I don't think they have said anything to do with Bangladesh.
11:32I know they made some… there were some comments coming in that they would, you know, withdraw from the… from the World Cup as well.
11:41So, obviously, that was not going to happen.
11:43But, I mean, even in India, there has been talk about, you know, not playing Pakistan the last… last couple of times.
11:50So, Pakistan…
11:52Do you think ICC should sanction, sir?
11:54We are having a problem with your video.
11:56But do you think that ICC should sanction Pakistan if they don't play?
12:00Because you can't run cricket on the whims and fancies of a country, suddenly decide, I won't play?
12:06Oh, definitely.
12:07Yes, I think if you withdraw at the last moment…
12:10If you withdraw earlier on, that's another matter.
12:12But if you withdraw at the last moment, you know, on the eve of the… of the tournament, then, yes, I think certainly the ICC should come in and, you know, take some action.
12:24I don't know what action they will take.
12:26But I think that…
12:27What kind of action do you think…
12:28What kind of action would you support, sir?
12:30Would you say one-year ban for Pakistan on international cricket or would that be too severe?
12:37I think it is…
12:38I think there are so many other boards, you know.
12:40So, it's not just going to be one person's decision.
12:44But I think it will be something that will…
12:47To ensure that no other team in the future also considers doing that.
12:51It will be something, you know, which will be…
12:53To ensure that no other team will do that.
12:57Okay.
12:57Sunil Gavaskar for joining me here on that big breaking story along with Nikhil Nas.
13:02Thank you both very much for joining me here.
13:05Okay.
13:05Okay.
13:06Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman presented her ninth consecutive budget on Sunday today.
13:12This budget comes amidst global headwinds and the Trump tariff war.
13:16Public capex in the budget has risen to 12.2 lakh crores with a 10,000 crore MSME funds
13:23and a push on manufacturing, particularly in areas where India has perhaps an edge in exports.
13:32There are also, you know, special geopolitical signal,
13:37Chabahar allocation has been cut to zero.
13:39Defence spending has risen 15% to 7.85 lakh crore.
13:44Let's take a look at the big takeaways of Nirmala Sitaraman's ninth budget which got a thumbs down from the markets
13:52but was otherwise seen to have a pretty decent response.
13:57A budget prepared in the shadow of global headwinds,
14:06triggered by the tariff war unleashed by Donald Trump.
14:10Nirmala Sitaraman, presenting her ninth consecutive budget,
14:14chose to navigate the choppy waters without rocking the boat.
14:18So instead of big bag announcements,
14:20the FM's budget speech on Sunday focused on firewalling the economy.
14:23At the time when private investment is yet to pick up,
14:28public capex has been raised from 11.2 lakh crore to 12.2 lakh crore.
14:33A 10,000 crore growth fund to create what she called champion SMEs.
14:3840,000 crore for India Semicondu Mission 2.0,
14:42up from 22,919 crore rupees allocated for the first version.
14:48Eligible SEZs are allowed to sell in domestic tariff area at concessional rates of duty.
14:53Customs duty cuts on inputs too boost some labour-intensive sectors like textiles.
14:58A tax holiday till 2047 for foreign companies' data centres in India.
15:03Income tax rates remain unchanged,
15:05all the compliance norms have been eased.
15:09Over 350 reforms have been ruled out.
15:12This includes GST simplification, notification of labour codes
15:18and rationalisation of mandatory quality control orders.
15:23High-level committees have been formed and in parallel,
15:28the central government is working with the state governments
15:30on deregulation and reducing compliance requirements.
15:35I am happy to inform this August house
15:38that I fulfilled my commitment made in 2021-2022
15:44to reduce fiscal deficit below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26.
15:52The Jiramji scheme, which has replaced Manrega,
15:57is allocated rupees 95,692 crores
16:01and another 30,000 crores allocated to clear pending Manrega dues.
16:06While the budget did not give any grand schemes for pole-bound states,
16:09it announced seven high-speed rail projects,
16:11two of them for Chennai.
16:12We will develop seven high-speed rail corridors
16:19between cities as growth connectors,
16:25namely Mumbai to Pune,
16:28Pune to Hyderabad,
16:30Hyderabad to Bengaluru,
16:32Hyderabad to Chennai,
16:33Chennai to Bengaluru,
16:36Delhi to Varanasi,
16:37Varanasi to Siliguri.
16:40Prime Minister Nalindam Modi
16:42hailed the budget as historic.
17:10The opposition claims the budget failed
17:11to meet expectations.
17:15Inflation control
17:17the influence of geopolitics was hard to miss zero allocation for the chabar port in iran
17:46a cut from 400 crores allotted last year
17:55coming just months after operation sindoor there is an increase of more than 15 percent
17:59in defense allocation from 6.81 lakh crores to 7.85 lakh crores
18:07bottom line nirmala sitaraman is playing a grinding test innings
18:11on a wicket checkered by global forces at play
18:14bureau report india today
18:20okay so how should we see budget 2026 we are going to go into what we call the budget face-off now
18:28joining me now is dr abhishek manu singhvi a four-time mp of the congress eminent jurist chair
18:35parliamentary standing committee on law and commerce also joining me is uh professor dr
18:40gaurab balap uh he is part of the economic advisory council uh economist politician with the bharatia
18:47janta party uh also with us is surjit bhala someone who's tracked budget probably longer than anyone else
18:53uh ex former executive director at the imf good to have all of you on the show i'm going to ask you
18:59because i want you to be crisp uh each of you you give me first uh gorab balap ruling party what you
19:06think is the biggest strength of budget 2026 and the biggest weakness
19:09see the biggest strength i can say the budget the entire premise lies on three m's focused approach
19:21to msme focused approach to manufacturing and maintenance of the reform express which is happening
19:29in the country i will give you 10 seconds for each of the three points when i say msme starting with the
19:37equity support is with the liquidity support and there was always one argument that majority of the
19:45benefits of the msme sector were taken away by the small and medium micro were not getting most of the
19:53things so this time there is a provision of corporate mitras who will ensure that the
19:59benefit of the msme schemes moves to the micro enterprises also coming to the second m that
20:05is manufacturing starting with the sunrise sectors like semiconductor mission 2.2 biopharma shakti
20:15to the conservative manufacturing like there is a a high-tech tool room for the cpscs the center
20:21public sector enterprises container manufacturing which is one of the most required thing in the
20:28export import the issues of the textile industries are addressed in this budget three new chemical
20:36parks were announced and from from the social sector side from the education to the orange economy there
20:43are a lot of things in in the manufacturing sector the third point which is the continuation of the momentum
20:50express or continuation of the reform express earlier reform express was on broad gauge now there is a
20:58high speed rail is there on uh on the tracks of high speed rail network reform express is moving
21:05starting with the infrastructure you can see rajdeep six lakh crore rupees approximated is is allocated to the
21:12infrastructure sector defense sector got a very high boost uh third point the atma nirbharata atma nirbharata
21:19in the defense sector already we had a defense production of 1.5 lakh crore in fy25 domestic defense
21:27production by our msmes the export of the defense equipments are ever increasing in the last two
21:33three years and this is one of the collateral benefit of the operations hindu so i gave you
21:37the you've given me three ms you asked me msmes manufacturing yeah and the reform express which
21:45you are saying maintaining the momentum of momentum okay i've got your point let dr abhishek manu singhvi give
21:51me the other perspective why do you think that this budget of 2026 is very tepid and insipid those are
21:58the words that are being used by many opposition leaders and maybe uh give me your reasons for that
22:07you're on mute sir you're on mute
22:11absolutely correct rajdeep and possibly an understatement as far as those adjectives are
22:16concerned uh what i like are two phrases about the budget one is that it's like an atm the screen
22:22lights up but the cash doesn't come out and she spoke uh in her ninth budget speech for hours but i
22:30think the middle class heard basically silence let me give you very quickly the bullets you need
22:35first it just doesn't add up you know there's a very special trick about budgets you keep on
22:40talking nice things about the future but they have to gel with the past so what we will get in the
22:45future over the next year well we can only hope but it directly contradicts the past take for example
22:51capital expenditure it is actually reduced as a percentage of gdp from 3.2 to 3.1 in absolute terms
22:59it is reduced by almost 144 000 crores it doesn't add up second revenue expenditure has been cut
23:08drastically in what i thought were the highest public interest sectors for the country rural
23:13development 53 000 crore rupees cut urban development 39 000 rupees crore rupees cut
23:21and so on agriculture 6 985 i'm not going to bore you with figures but that's the trend third my friend
23:28just forgot although we are not in a debate we are only speaking individually i was told but
23:32he spoke about manufacturing you know the irony atmanirbhar has become a a supreme irony a myth
23:41manufacturing is stuck at 12.8 less than 13 percent for more than a decade the sector which should be
23:49growing most we are actually sustained by our services sector so what you're talking about is the future
23:54rosy nice projections but this is the disconnect with the past how can you suddenly jack up manufacturing
24:01from a consistent structural uh you know stuck in the rut of 12.8 to this rosy picture of the future
24:09doesn't add up then fourthly uh tell me which of the major concerns your own economic survey
24:16raised are addressed by this budget let's take a gross fixed capital formation it's very low from 25 28 to 30
24:25percent what is there specific about this when an actual capital expenditure is cut drastically
24:31julge even mission which is your own mission is cut from 67 000 crores to 17 000 crores
24:40in the uh revised estimates now what you've done is you again jacked it up for the next year
24:46but if your immediate past year performance is this huge cut it is just you know very highly questionable so
24:53you're saying there's a huge gap between the government's claims and the reality on the ground
24:58because you had gorab ballab giving a list of areas like these rail corridors specific schemes that have
25:04been announced by this government for example tax holiday till 2047 for foreign companies setting up data
25:11centers in india they've given specifics dr singhvi rajdeep in the long run as john kane said we're all dead
25:19i'm very happy if this happens in 47 but i am comparing it with the immediate past year mscs was
25:24mentioned msme's msme's corporate mitras is an administrative ease of business effort what is
25:30the solid thing to reduce the lacks of msme's which have shut down tell me single corporate mitras will
25:38help them to file forms i i gave you urban and employment equal time i want to give the same time to dr
25:46surjit bhala is there a middle ground between the two extreme views that i heard just now
25:51dr bhala in this budget when i look at some of the early criticism it is that the budget didn't do
25:57enough it could have been a breakthrough budget it isn't there are the other view is it has provided a
26:02strong element of stability and the potential for future growth okay i don't know whether i'll fall in
26:10between the two views but let me also give you my three points on the budget first point that in
26:20terms of social indicators and by that i mean poverty reduction women's empowerment notification of labor
26:29codes etc the government has done spectacularly well these things all happen before the budget and the
26:37government has to be credited with what they have done in these areas then in terms of economic
26:43policies the income tax cut and the gst tax reduction two policies that i was very much in favor of have
26:53also been announced and are in place so those are two background to the budget announcement today
27:02the third point i want to make what i was looking for from the budget is what it does to private
27:11investment that is what ails the indian economy and there is not much i see in the budget to accelerate
27:22private investment our major problem is f net fdi is now negative that means indian investors
27:33net net are investing more broad than they are in india that is to say indian capital expenditure etc by the
27:41private sector the the public sector that is going as normal which you also mentioned and that is good but
27:50what ails the indian economy is that there is lack of private investment but that's with dr bandha you know
27:59the government on its part claims we've given a number of incentives over the last five years
28:04what are we to do if the private sector doesn't do any lifting yeah that's very good point you're
28:10bringing up what is the private look the private sector is not an agent of the government that it has
28:19to do what the government wishes the private sector around the world reacts to incentives and what so
28:28why is the private sector not responding is that what is the explanation sorry what is the explanation for
28:36the private sector not responding positively okay one explanation for the private sector not responding
28:44positively and this was the supreme court action just about a week or two weeks ago on taxation
28:53and tiger global taxation etc and bringing this you know the high court had said it was all okay
29:02and the supreme court then ruled now i'm not one of those that believes that the supreme court is such an
29:09independent agency that in an act against the interests of the government against the interests of
29:16the indian citizens so therefore that is why if you you know this is another version of tax terrorism
29:24you're saying there's a lack of certainty a certain is not very happy within okay i take your point dr bhala
29:31i take your point and i want to take that to you gaurab bhala because about this budget many believe needed to
29:37do more private investors don't say on uh on tele on camera they won't say that but off camera they say
29:44there is still concern of course there's the global uncertainty but there's a sense that ease of doing
29:51business on the ground there are still far far too much regulatory cholesterol for example tourism
29:57has been given a lot of focus in this budget but when i speak to people in the tourism industry they
30:02say there are still plenty of loopholes i want to set a hotel up in india i have to go through hundreds
30:07of compliances so how are you going to actually turn intent into execution
30:12see point by point as the as you had asked me why private sector investment is not picking up the
30:23one one of the reason why private investment is not picking up is the geopolitical reason environment
30:33in the economy second as pointed out by professor bhala is about the certainty so in the last three years
30:42the public capex is increasing but in the same rate the private capex is not increasing i'm admitting
30:49in front of you but it is not that it is constant it is growing but the rate of growth like public capex
30:55in fy 15 was two lakh crore in fy 27 we are we we are budgeting for 12.2 lakh crore so there is a six
31:05times increase but that kind of increase is not there in the private investment so what we are doing
31:11if we are maintaining fiscal deficit at four point four percent of gdp next year we are targeting four
31:17point three percent of gdp with the with the stable kind of macroeconomic parameters when the gdp growth
31:24is growing at seven point four percent the vicious cycle of the private investment is going to break
31:29and the private investments are also going to grow in the same manner as the public capex so i i i am i
31:36am not of that opinion that private capex is not going to grow coming to your point rajdeep that there
31:43are certain constraints as far as the deregulation and ease of doing business is concerned and i am
31:47admitting again i am admitting that is the reason my third point m m m maintenance of the momentum in
31:55the reform express so the reforms in three l's are very much required already process is there the
32:02uh labor reforms already process is initiated now it is uh in the in the in the uh the state's turn
32:11is there to make the rules for the labor court then the second l is the land reform already there is
32:18lot of thought already the the process is initiated and third is about the legal reforms when i say legal
32:24reforms it is about executing the contracts so uh with these kind of you you're saying this is work
32:31in progress i take your point let me give abhishek manu singhmi a final word you see abhishek's one of
32:36the concerns i have we don't have a shadow cabinet so when the finance minister makes his speech the
32:41opposition you know instinctively says it's a terrible budget but how would you have what i keep asking
32:48this to opposition leaders what would you have done different give me one thing that you would have done
32:52that nirmala sitaraman has not done today again you're on mute sir first of all uh rajdeep i don't
33:03speak on the basis that i have to criticize for the sake of criticism there are some good things for
33:08example biopharma shakti semiconductor mission these are good things rare earth corridors we want to do
33:14some things to reduce chinese dependency etc etc but these are far and few between a few and far between
33:21uh you are asking me all the things i've criticized on i would have given much more for agriculture
33:28i would i would have done much more for msmes i would have done for direct employment you are talking
33:34of indirect even an expert like mr bhala whom i hold in very high regard in this team is able to really
33:41point to the positives as first non-budgetary i mean poverty reduction women's empowerment government
33:48codes are good things but they're not budgetary issues we are discussing today he has to struggle
33:53to find a gst cut which is dehors the budget and he rightly points out private sector low investment
34:00so on the budget itself there is very little except that there is a rosy picture for the future every
34:06time on each item the immediate past one and two years have shown great reductions and the very same
34:12thing is jacked up for the future in addition to what i have said i think there is uh you know
34:19and i think my friend mr ballav is perhaps adopting that this whole thing about acronyms and jumlahs
34:25two of his three m's i have dealt with i've shown you the m about msme corporate mitra is hardly a very
34:31big boost to msmes manufacturing is stuck at below 13 percent so what is these three m's
34:36and l's are you know the long term legal sector reform and all these are not budget you have
34:43not used the budget as a tool of economic advancement acceleration a push very very tepid
34:53and very very you know okay i i've heard both of you i will give mr dr bhala 30 seconds i know
34:58that's a very limited dr bhala what is the one thing you would have liked to see that you didn't see in
35:03this budget anything to increase private investment and as far as one thing i would have
35:12hoped that they would say something about the tiger global judgment of the supreme court but let me add
35:20just since i've only taken 15 seconds let me take 15 seconds more all of you taking recourse to
35:28oh my god you know the world is so uncertain and therefore we you know we've done the best
35:35if you look at gdp growth rates around the world in 2025 they were higher for 53 of the countries higher
35:47in 2025 than in 2024 so we're facing the same global situation as the rest of the world so let us not
35:55congratulate ourselves that look we're facing a tough environment oh what can we do what we could do
36:03is to provide incentives for private investment to go up and reduce tax terrorism in our country okay i'm
36:13going to leave it there i appreciate my guest joining me uh at the moment three very different perspectives uh
36:19thank you all very much for joining me i'm going to go now to uh a voice who always has a very strong
36:25opinion amitabh khan former ceo neeti ayoga uh joins me at the moment uh dr khan if i were to ask you for
36:32your three big takeaways from budget 2026 what would they be
36:39well first and foremost i think the smartest thing done today is that they've given a 22-year tax
36:46exemption for data centers 80 of the investment in the world is happening in the field of ai and
36:52data centers if you're able to attract all the investments here you will drive cloud you will
36:58drive computing you will use indian data to really drive artificial intelligence all over the world so
37:05that's number one to my point it's a big ticket thing number two i think the fiscal discipline
37:09we are in the midst of global disruption we are in the midst of geopolitical breakdown in the midst of
37:16all this uh nirmala sitaravan has demonstrated her ability uh to be fiscally prudent and to be
37:23fiscally responsible by ensuring that the budget fiscal deficit comes down to 4.3 percent and the debt
37:30to gdp ratio comes down to 55.6 percent and yet increase the allocation for infrastructure to 12.2 lakh
37:38the rose uh this is to my mind no means we should recognize that this is infrastructure and
37:45manufacturing drives growth the focus of this budget is on manufacturing the focus is on
37:52infrastructure and both will give you long-term multiplier effect on your economy uh the third
37:57thing i would say is that the budget also takes care of sectors which have been impacted by trumpian
38:04tariffs uh it takes care of textiles it takes care of leather and footwear it takes care of marine sector
38:12and more importantly it takes care of tourism sector these sectors are job creating sectors so
38:18the impact of job creation should happen over a period of time but important to say that they've
38:24pushed for uh relief in these critical sectors so this is my these are my three
38:30no it's interesting you mr mr kath it's interesting you mentioned tourism it's a center a sector you've
38:36been uh closely associated with uh in the part uh in the past many believe yes tourism is a force
38:42multiplier but we've seen that all the intent all these announcements don't translate into execution on
38:48the ground particularly in tourism the number of compliances that are required to set up a hotel for
38:53example difficulties that charter companies have do you believe that this is where center and states need to
38:59work together where you've got to turn intent into execution let's say in a critical sector like tourism
39:08so two things rajdeep i think that the real challenge is in doing world-class execution execution execution
39:15execution is the key you have cities you've put in about close to 5000 crore uh per city for economic
39:24region tied to tie to three cities you've also spoken about seven high-speed rail corridor uh you know um
39:33my experience is that the dedicated freight corridor was delayed by almost a decade by the indian railways uh
39:39the the high-speed train is running late we need to ensure that our planning our execution is perfect
39:47before time not ahead of time schedule this is execution is the key to delivery on ground and uh my my view is
39:58that uh this has to be the real focus uh and urbanization uh you know if these uh high-speed trains link up the
40:06growth centers then on both sides of the corridors this will be transit oriented development you will drive
40:14urbanization in a very big way so sustainable smart urbanization it will be the key to future growth
40:22of india but the truth again is urbanized sir the truth is you mentioned urbanization again you tick the
40:28right box but urban governance cannot be top down you need it bottom up decentralized we've seen the smart
40:35city project that the government has announced in the past in different tack record record some cities
40:40have done well others have lagged well well behind so there doesn't seem to be any magic wand out there
40:47the government is thinking long term of what happens in the short term we press the right buttons but as
40:51i said how do you execute to ensure world-class urban governance
40:58yeah so radhibi would recall one of the announcements made in last year's budget was one lakh crore
41:04for urban cities which will be selected through a challenge route i think that process is in its final
41:11stages so if you take and the other focus in this budget is again and again fm will talk about the
41:17challenge route so when you take cities or you take uh ministries through a challenge route they
41:24necessarily have to prepare do homework they do planning everything and they compete with each other you
41:31know one of the main success of uh china is that they're brutally and ruthlessly compete domestically
41:38we need to ensure that do absolutely brutal competition between states do ruthless competition
41:45between cities and only select the best the best will deliver and that will be a learning lesson and a
41:51demonstration effect for others and to my mind the key to great execution is to really think of
41:58everything in the world has already been done you that's what leak once q said about singapore he said
42:05i have not done anything new i just picked up what has been done the best in the world i picked up the
42:09best practices and executed them that's what india needs to do just replicate what has been the best
42:15thing in the world done crack it on ground and crack it quickly on ground do it 10-15 percent better than
42:21what has been done you know my my final question uh mr khan because it's a question i'm asking a lot of
42:28industry representatives and you interact with industry private investment not kicking in despite
42:33all the incentives that have been given over the last six years should the heavy lifting why is private
42:39in industry not doing the heavy lifting government pushes ahead with capex what has gone wrong is that
42:45lack of trust lack of faith why is private investment not pushing ahead what is your message
42:51then to industry today so uh radhi my view is that the government has done the heavy lifting as far as
43:01capex spend public capex is done uh you can't last four years we've done a 30 percent increase on
43:09capex increase year after year uh there's very little absorption capacity beyond this
43:16by the government you need private capex to step in you need private investment to move in you can't
43:23be a vixit bharat in 2047 without free enterprise you can't grow without the private sector accelerating
43:31the pace of growth this is critical now uh two views in my to my mind is critical the private sector
43:39balance sheets are very good uh three years back the corporate tax was reduced uh the government gave
43:47away one lakh 45 000 crores to these corporates their balance sheet is flushed with liquidity and
43:53therefore they need to put money they need to take a little more risk i know that capacity utilization is
43:5870 75 percent but they need to take risk they need to have faith in the strategy of vixit bharat they
44:04need to accelerate the pace of investments and drive growth only three or four corporates are
44:10putting today putting large resources into investments in india you need hundreds and
44:15thousands of private sector to accelerate the pace of growth okay i'm going to leave it there uh
44:20there uh amitabh kant uh speaking with usual energy i appreciate you joining us i also spoke earlier to
44:27arvin virmani former chief economic advisor now with neeti ayoga and i asked that same question what was his
44:32biggest takeaway from budget 2026 listen in so basically uh i have uh two or three the the one
44:44is a very common one i think uh it's important i mean we forget about it but macro uh stability the
44:51the fiscal uh stability etc is very important and we've had that for some time but it continues
44:58and it's particularly important that this time uh because of the uncertainties you know when
45:04uncertainty uh there are a lot of global uncertainties or other types of potential shocks
45:11you have to have a a firm fiscal hold so that monetary policy can play a flexible role this is what we
45:19know from history that uh when kind of active monetary policy is needed it's good to have a firm
45:27fiscal thing and and that's what works best so that's one thing which is kind of i take your
45:32point on macro stability but does this budget do enough to do the other thing growth the animal
45:37spirits of the economy at a time of global headwinds does this budget do enough for that
45:45so two very important elements which uh i'm coming to next which are my main takeaways
45:51one is the uh you know i have this simple slogan which is very unconventional i say skills and jobs
45:59are two sides of the same coin uh everybody thinks of you know here are number of people looking for
46:05jobs here are the jobs you're not creating enough jobs the way i look at it you're not creating enough
46:10skills so that is why that simplistic slogan maybe but what uh this budget uh kind of signals uh
46:18it's a second budget to do that that you have to create the skills and the jobs will be there
46:24what do i mean by that when you upgrade every uh let me give you a statistic 58 percent of the workers
46:31in this country are self-employed when you improve the skills of their their uh their skills the quality
46:38out of of their output goes up their income goes up so it's like creating a new job you're creating a
46:44completely different job so that is the message on skills i think is very important and just very
46:50quickly on services i think the the role role of services uh as job creators have has of course
46:57everybody has it in the back of their mind we but we have said uh focused on it that it is creating all
47:03these high level jobs but services in general uh whether it's tourism these medical uh services sports
47:11whatever uh are are very important across the spectrum of jobs whether it's low skill jobs
47:17medium skills or high skill so i think from my perspective the emphasis on these two things
47:22is very important uh for getting inclusive growth okay skilling and job but how is the world seeing
47:30today's budget arvin virmani speaking to me earlier christian d guzman senior vice president moody's ratings
47:36is now joining me from singapore uh appreciate your joining us your first reactions to india's
47:42budget do you believe this is done enough to counter some of the global headwinds and uncertainties that
47:47we've seen in the last 12 months well um well thanks for for having me and allowing me to speak to you
47:56about about the budget today um i think to answer your question is that um this doesn't really provide
48:02uh my my first impression is that this doesn't really provide a a significant offset uh to the
48:09the external headwinds that we are that we have today but i think at the same time uh what you have
48:14here is a demonstration of fiscal consolidation uh given the target for a narrow fiscal deficit so within
48:20that sort of overall sort of policy target the government has tried to do what it can in terms of support to
48:28the economy knowing that there is limited fiscal space but what would you have liked to see that
48:34would have that you believe should where would you have liked to see the government do more to counter
48:40these global headwinds and do a more breakthrough budget because the government says look we're trying
48:45to ease u.s tariff uh distress give export benefits and manufacturing increase manufacturing competitiveness
48:52in certain sectors do you believe the government should have gone through this sector-wise approach
48:57or should there have been some bigger reforms undertaken to offset uh the kind of distress that certain
49:02sectors are facing well um i think we have to sort of look at the bigger picture and and and the bigger
49:11picture here is one of overall resilience i think all of us in the market were quite concerned about the
49:17very punitive headline tariffs that the u.s had imposed in the middle of last year not just the 25 but the
49:22additional 25 just given the the purchase of russian oil but i think a couple of quarters on you have
49:29seen that demonstration of economic resilience so i think it it was appropriate given the limited amount
49:35of fiscal space that this government has that they have in essence uh undertaken a tactical approach a more
49:42sector-specific approach to help address those um uh those those parts of the economy that may indeed be more
49:49affected right but this sector uh approach also comes on the back of the multiple uh free trade
49:55agreements that the government has signed in the last few months do you believe therefore that
50:00eventually uh the signals you are looking at are not just in the budget but actually outside the
50:04budget where some of the heavy lifting some of the reforms particularly in terms of ease of doing
50:09business labor courts uh all of that comes from outside the actual budget speech is that what you're
50:15looking at more closely now well i think that is that is that is correct a lot of that heavy lifting in
50:22terms of of helping to actually just facilitate um more significant pickup and growth is going to have
50:29to be done outside of the budget once again this government has been very um adamant about portraying to
50:36the market um that uh that they are fiscally responsible and and therefore anchoring their their fiscal
50:41policy going forward on a downward trajectory uh in debt to gdp what that means is that their ability
50:49to really push through significant fiscal stimulus is is not there unless they do want to um basically
50:56reverse that commitment that i mentioned i want to ask you one final question uh we've seen currency
51:03volatility in recent times fdi inflow slowing down do you see all that changing has this budget given
51:09signals to moody's for example that fdi inflows will increase into india um well i think from our
51:18assessment when we look at this budget it doesn't really change the broader parameters of our of how
51:24we view the sovereign credit profile um once again the fiscal the pace of fiscal consolidation has slowed
51:30quite a bit so we're still looking at relatively wide deficits at least wider than what we had seen
51:36uh prior to the pandemic yes there has been some progress since the pandemic but but we've essence
51:41in essence not sort of fully recovered yet um that remains uh quite elevated and we do have a narrowing
51:48of the tax revenue base um this isn't just a function of this budget it it um it does reflect some
51:54of the measures that were taken previously such as those in the last budget where you've exempted
51:58a large amount of taxpayers from well from paying tax um as well as the gst rationalization so you do have
52:05a smaller envelope uh of revenue for which to really sort of facilitate uh facilitate growth um so with
52:13the deficit still wide with the debt still elevated um i don't really think that we see here and that
52:20there are strong signals in the market from the budget however we do think that as you perhaps had
52:26implied earlier some of the other things that we have seen such as um uh maybe stepping away from the
52:32traditionally more protectionist trade policy by signing more fda's uh really uh trying to
52:38consolidate trade relationships with partners other than the united states uh plus i think what comes
52:44with that uh perhaps potential improvements in ease of doing business and in easing the regulatory
52:49burden not just for foreign investors but also domestic investors those are the things that are going to move
52:55the needle christian d guzman giving us a sense there from singapore at this time of the night thank you
53:02so much for joining me here on uh this budget special okay that's all that we could pack in uh on the show
53:09today thanks very much for watching uh from the entire team here good night shubratri jain namaskar
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