A look at the team behind Union Budget 2022-23

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

In around two months, the Narendra Modi-led government will once again present a Budget in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Union Budget for 2022-23 will be pivotal in defining the way forward for the Indian economy that is still recovering from the aftermath of the unprecedented global pandemic.

While the Indian economy has been resilient and has bounced back quite well after the outbreak COVID-19 and in the first two quarters of 2021-22, with the first half of 2021-22 witnessing a substantial rise in GDP, the Union Budget for 2022-23 will be crucial.

It is against this backdrop that the Budget will be presented. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team will navigate often competing, multiple demands from various sectors, citizens and stakeholders to provide a balm or a boost in these Covid times.

Here is the team that is preparing the Union Budget 2022-23:

Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The Finance Minister’s fourth Budget will be just as important as her first Budget after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps even more important given the outbreak of a new variant of COVID-19.

She has been the face of the government’s economic response to the pandemic and the economic slowdown, announcing the ‘Gareeb Kalyan’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ programmes. Sitharaman has promised that the upcoming Budget will be of a kind never seen before, one where fiscal concerns will be kept aside and there could be record public spending, with an objective of boosting demand and creating jobs

Sitharaman, who studied economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, has held the Commerce and Defence portfolios in Modi’s first tenure. It was during her time as Defence Minister in 2019 when the most serious skirmish since 1999 broke out between India and Pakistan. Sitharaman has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

TV Somanathan

Finance Secretary TV Somanathan.

By convention, the senior most of the five secretaries in the Finance Ministry is designated as Finance Secretary. Expenditure Secretary TV Somanathan currently holds that designation.

 A PhD in economics, Somanathan is a 1987-batch officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre. He has worked in the Prime Minister’s Office from April 2015 to August 2017, and is known to have the ears of Modi. Most of the suggestions from the PMO on the Budget are likely routed through Somanathan and Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj.

Somanathan is a popular bureaucrat among colleagues, but his role isn’t. As Expenditure Secretary, he has enforced expenditure cuts in a number of departments, except the ones directly involved in battling the Covid-19 pandemic, even as his department has had to find money for the stimulus announcements made by Sitharaman.

The upcoming budget will definitively be the biggest on record, especially in terms of capital expenditure, and it will be Somanathan’s job to figure out where will the money be spent.

Tarun Bajaj

Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj

Former economic affairs secretary and now the revenue secretary, Tarun Bajaj is another bureaucrat who has earlier worked with the PMO, having worked there for five years before moving to North Block in April 2020, a month into the lockdown.

He was instrumental in helping shape the three ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ sets of relief measures. Bajaj is a 1988-batch officer from the Haryana cadre.

As head of the Revenue Department, Bajaj’s main role will be to set realistic tax targets, as the economy begins to recover to pre-pandemic levels of 2019-20.

In that year as well, there was a net tax revenue shortfall of Rs 1.45 lakh crore. The direct and indirect tax departments have stepped up efforts to widen the net this year and go after evaders and defaulters, and corporate tax and GST have shown encouraging signs in the past few months.

Secretary-Expenditure TV Somnathan and Secretary-Revenue Tarun Bajaj, both of whom earlier worked in the PMO, will also play an important role in pushing reforms and also bringing the pandemic-battered economy back on a growth trajectory.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey

Secretary of Department of Investment and Public Asset Management Tuhin Kanta Pandey

After the success of privatising Air India, Tuhin Pandey, the Secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, last month said that the central government will privatise five or six companies in the current financial year of 2021-22, including Bharat Petroleum, Shipping Corporation of India and Pawan Hans.

The success of privatising Air India is also expected to be the driving force behind the further privatisation planned by the government.

Pandey is a 1987-batch officer from the Punjab cadre and after having kicked off the Centre’s ambitious privatisation plan Pandey will still have the responsibility of carrying out any further deals and ensuring their fruition.

After having missed its highest-ever target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore in 2020-21, DIPAM was given a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore in 2021-22, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is expected that the target for DIPAM is most likely going to be raised in 2022-23.

Things look much better for next year, when Pandey’s priorities will be the privatisation of Bharat Petroleum, Concor, Shipping Corp as well as the expected blockbuster initial public offering of LIC Ltd.

Ajay Seth

Despite being the newest member in the Finance Ministry, the Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, a 1987-batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, will have all eyes on him as the DEA is also the nodal department for the capital market, investment and infrastructure-related policies.

Following the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the central government has been the driving force behind capital investment, especially in infrastructure, which has been the blueprint for the Centre’s planned public spending push, as it looks to pump money into large infrastructure projects with an aim of reviving activity and creating jobs.

Seth will also be tasked with the tough job of reviving private capital expenditure in the economy in order to maintain the growth in India’s GDP.

The Budget Division, which puts together all inputs and prepares the Budget, reports to him and it is likely that Seth will draft Sitharaman’s Budget speech.

In his previous stint at the Finance Ministry, Seth served as Deputy Secretary and Director in the Department of Expenditure and Department of Economic Affairs between 2000 and 2004. He served as Adviser to executive director of Asian Development Bank during 2004-2008.

Debashish Panda

A rather media-shy bureaucrat, Panda is a 1987-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre who heads the Department of Financial Services. All the financial sector-related announcements expected in the Budget are his responsibility, including any further plans of recapitalisation.

The banks have weathered the pandemic better than many other sectors. However, there are concerns that loss of economic activity and jobs could lead to further defaults, and that, coupled with any waiver of interest that might occur, will affect their balance sheets. Additionally, the already precarious NBFCs may be impacted further. Panda will have to work closely with the RBI to ensure the stability of the financial system.

Chief Economic Advisor

Krishnamurthy Subramanian, the current chief economic advisor, earlier this year had announced his return to academia after his three-year term ends on December 17.

With Subramanian set to retire in a week, the government is looking at Finance ministry's Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal and former member of Monetary Policy Committee Pami Dua as candidates for the post of government's chief economic adviser

The new chief economic advisor's most pivotal role will be in drafting the Economic Survey 2020-21, which can be seen as a precursor to the Budget.

The survey’s views on the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian economy, on jobs, activity, various sectors, small businesses, households, education and healthcare will be much awaited, as he has access to more government data than independent agencies.