Union Budget 2020 India: Amid rising inequality and fall in consumption especially in the rural sector, Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee reiterated his strategy to alleviate poverty by reimposing Wealth tax on the country’s richest population in the upcoming union budget and following with redistribution of the wealth, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday. The 58-year-old Abhijit Banerjee was addressing a gathering at the Kolkata literary meet on various aspects of the Indian economy. “Given the current state of inequality in India, a wealth tax is completely sensible. In such a case, more redistribution is required, and I expect this not to happen soon,” The Indian Express quoted Abhijit Banerjee as saying. He suggested that the corporate sector is sitting on huge cash following a significant reduction in the corporate tax by the government in September last year.
Meanwhile, Abhijit Banerjee said the Indian Economy is passing through a phase of recession and he has not seen any signs from the data coming out in public domain which can prove him entirely wrong. “What I can say is that we could be in a recession. But, I don’t know by how much. There is nothing in the data that suggests we could not be in a recession,” he said to a massive crowd present there to have his word on economy. Further, he flagged concerns about the state of banking and infrastructure sectors, calling them in ‘doldrums’. He has raised the urgency for the government to fund the embattled sectors. However, he asked for patience from the investors in the banking sector as the recovery would not be immediate rather it will be hard-fought and time taking.
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The well-renowned economist and the writer of the book ‘ Good Economics for Hard Times’ backed the government’s move to privatise PSUs such as Air India and said “I would love to sell out the prestigious PSUs.” He also expressed optimism on several flagship schemes laid out by the Narendra Modi’s NDA government and said if properly implemented, will solve many key welfare issues prevalent in the country
Source: Financial Express
