Great Indian Budget:: Does it deserve the attention it gets?

Everyone in India, including the media, the industry and everyone else eagerly awaits for the union budget every year, without exception, as though the budget is going to change the way their lead their lives. Is the budget really that important? I don't think so. In my view it is an hyped up event which does not deserve any attention at all, at least not the amount of attention it gets.

What happens in each budget? The government in power presents its annual report for the current financial year and outlines the income and expense heads proposed for the next financial year. Pretty much similar to what Infosys does at the end of every financial year. The companies do it after the financial year ends, but the government does it one month before. This is the only difference.

Current & potential investors and analysts (so called) pay attention to an Infosys annual result briefing, because, they are affected by it. The analysts need to advise their investors based on the results while investors decide to stay invested or increase their investments in Infosys based on the results and guidance, if given. But, with regard to the union budget, do the investors have such a choice? Yes they do. They can leave the country and go elsewhere if the policies are not favourable. That is it. They have no choice but to remain invested and continue to invest more, every passing year.

So why so much hoopla? It is because media wants it that way. Media needs events to report. For instance, would Ruchika Girotra's case have got so much media attention if Pune blasts had happened at the same time? Most probably not. Every year, the media tries to build hype around what to expect in the budget and soon after the budget, have folks analyze it and say something about it. Once that is done, they move on to the next story.

To summarize, the buzz around the union budget is a media creation and nothing else. We are certainly better of not paying so much attention to the budget, because we pretty much know what to expect in it much before than the announcements are actually made.