Open Budget
The budget’s always been a cloak and dagger affair (to the extent that any ship that leaks at the top, er, government operation can be kept secret). And so, when the curtain is raised every year and people’s guesses are proved right or wrong, stocks would go up or down; and we’d know if our take home would increase or decrease; whether a new avenue had opened up to cut down on taxes or if an existing avenue no longer existed. That is also why the budget gets so much coverage. But the current budget looks like it may be the first non-secret budget we’ll have. Chidambaram has been going around the world indicating what the budget will contain; the intent to cut fiscal deficit with specific figures stated; measures like possible increases in tax rates for the super-rich; the intent to not fiddle with tax rates for companies and the rest of us because it creates uncertainty and scares away investments etc. You might be inclined to dismiss this as empty talk or at best the govern