Thread by @htTweets

Thirty years after Manmohan Singh’s first Budget, as the Indian economy is trying to come out of its largest ever contraction, a look back at how the nature of economic challenges has changed over the last three decades.

By @Roshanjnu
hindustantimes.com/india-news/the…

How serious was the immediate crisis before 1991 Budget?

#ManmohanSingh’s 1991 Budget speech made no attempt to hide the extent of the economic crisis prevailing then.

Read full report by @Roshanjnu - bit.ly/3hVdAUo

How bad was the foreign exchange and inflation situation at the time?

CPI (IW) had been in double digits from October 1990 onwards when Singh presented his Budget in 1991. It would stay above the 10% mark until September 1992.

Full report by @Roshanjnu - bit.ly/3hVdAUo

The share of high technology exports in India’s export basket has barely increased; from 2% in 1991 to 6% in 2019, the latest period for which this data is available.

For China, this share increased from 9% in 1992 to 35% in 2019.

Report by @Roshanjnu: bit.ly/3hVdAUo

The question of fiscal prudence bringing a pro-cyclical element to economic policy is extremely relevant given the fact that India’s fiscal stimulus to deal with the pandemic’s economic shock has been among the smallest among major economies.

Read more bit.ly/3hVdAUo

As per CMIE, share of direct taxes in total tax revenue of Centre, states fell from 18.3% in 1981-82 to 16.3% in 1990-91

This'd increase consistently in post-reform period to reach peak of 43.2% in 2009-10

It fell to 36.1% in 2015-16 before rising marginally to 38.9% in 2019-20