Show tight control over fiscal situation, populism: Chanda Kochhar

MUMBAI: As the country awaits first Union Budget of the Narendra Modi-led government, top banker Chanda Kochhar feels that it can’t ignore harsh realities like the tough fiscal situation as well as rising prices and would need “tight control” over both expenditure and populism.

Ms. Kochhar, who heads the country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank, said the Budget would need to provide clarity about the prospective nature of taxation, as also other rules and regulations, besides lining up necessary steps to clear projects that have been stuck to boost investor confidence.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who recently said that India has to make a choice between mindless populism and fiscal prudence, will present the Budget 2014-15 on July 10.

This would be the first budget of the new central government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has also said recently that some tough decisions and strong measures are needed to bring financial discipline.

When asked what ‘bitter medicines’ people can expect from the Budget, Ms. Kochhar told PTI in an interview in Mumbai, “I think there are some realities that neither the budget can ignore nor we can ignore. The fact is that the fiscal situation is quite tight and so we need to take a proper stock of the fiscal situation. Then, it is a fact that the oil prices are going up because of the Iraq issue and then we do not know how the food inflation would move given the current monsoon situation.”