If the Union Budget 2023-24 were to be contextualised in a broader frame, one would take into account the perpetuation of the Russia-Ukraine war, soaring inflation, constrained fiscal deficit of India, high unemployment rate and the risk of a recession looming large in many big and small economies. For India, which still claims an impressive growth figure, the task has been to use the limited resources at its disposal to operate optimally in this very difficult situation. Add to it the temptation of pleasing the people ahead of a general election year! The government has now chosen to spend its money in a particular priority order, the outcomes of which remain to be seen. Credit to robust revenue collections last year, the government managed to keep its word on containing the fiscal deficit to 6.4 per cent — aiming for 5.9 per cent in the ensuing fiscal and 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. This year’s major Budgetary emphasis has been on driving growth through capital expenditure, a trend which continues for the past couple of years. Capital expenditure has been increased by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore — more than double of Rs 4.39 lakh crore in 2020-21. The capital outlay for the railways has been increased to the highest-ever level at Rs 2.40 lakh crore. The expansion in capital expenditure has come partly at the cost of shrinking revenue expenditure (spending on day-to-day attributes like salaries and pensions). This shift is seen by many as a positive sign, as the simple math goes — Rs 100 spent on capital expenditure can add Rs 250 to the economy while the same amount spent on revenue expenditure may yield less than Rs 100. But certainly, there is a flip side to this shift because shrinking revenue expenditure has its own side effects on the private consumption parameter. The government is well aware that its hands are tied. It may be one of the reasons that it is now looking at leveraging private investment by bolstering the capital expenditure scenario. It is also in line with the government's stated intent of the minimum government. This seems to be a reasonable stance but in a poverty-stricken and economically unequal country like India, socialism and distributive justice cannot be overlooked outrightly. The government need not leave the larger population at the mercy of the market. Moreover, there is an element of uncertainty in it. The positive outcomes of the past capital push have not come out clearly as of now. The emphasis on capital investment is a good step but over-reliance on the same is a tricky thing. It may be pertinent to note here that allocation to a prominent social security employment scheme like MNREGA has been relegated to an insignificant position in this Budget. If the government wishes to fill the employment-generation gap through capital investment, it should be wary of its non-surety. To drive growth, the next thing that the government has focused on is boosting private consumption through increasing the tax rebate limit to Rs 7 lakh in the new tax regime, which is more of an exercise to popularise the new tax regime as a default mechanism. The scope of this exercise is limited because the number of actual taxpayers in this bracket is already quite low. The most significant change in the income tax scenario is, however, the 3.74 per cent tax cut in the creamiest income bracket. Contrary to the prediction of being populist, the Union Budget 2023-24 dares to favour the most affluent. It was expected that the government would slash the indirect tax rates in GST, not only to ease the burden on the poor but also to provide some real push to private consumption. Notably, the poor have a significantly better marginal propensity to consume while the rich are more likely to save or invest the additional money they are provided with. The slashing of GST rates, thus, could have really driven GDP growth considerably. Talking about the particulars, the defence budget has been almost constant, and the environmental and digital push of the government is appreciable. It is, however, disheartening once again to see crucial sectors like health and education receiving below-the-mark outlays. It is difficult to imagine how a nation can aspire to become a global superpower after ignoring its critical human resources. The need to invest in health and education has become even more pronounced as India is projected to become the world's most populous country in the near future. Another unfortunate occurrence has been the neglect of the rural economy which has seen its budgetary outlay curtailed this year. In total, while the outcomes of the government’s priorities will be revealed by the end of this year, certain misses are quite hurting for sure.