“Tight fist, fingers crossed”: A look at the front pages of leading dailies

Newly-elected Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her maiden Budget yesterday. The Budget was unveiled at 11 am in the Lok Sabha. Here’s a look at the front pages of leading English and Hindi dailies.

The front pages of The Times of India and The Economic Times seemed quite inspired by the cricket World Cup.

The pink daily led with: “Budget Takes Economy To Semifinal”. This was accompanied by a picture of Sitharaman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi wearing the Indian team’s jersey. Another headline on the front page read: “Top Order Hit with a Bouncer, Again”. This was a reference to the levying of extra tax on the wealthy.

A tweet quoted in the story also had cricket references.

The Times of India led with, “FM stumps rich, bats for investment”. The lead article was accompanied by caricatures of a blue jersey-clad Sitharaman dodging bouncers, “running them out” and more. On the side, The Times of India also had a column on “winners and losers”.

Business Standard had a picture of a smiling Sitharaman next to the headline: “Fiscally correct, but familiar tax targets”. Tucked under the banner headline was a sweet anchor piece: “After fumble comes finesse”. It captured Sitharaman’s initial nervousness and a brief cameo moment between her and her family who were sitting in the Speaker’s Gallery.

The Indian Express led with: “Tight fist, fingers crossed”. The blurb described the 2019 Union Budget 2019 as an “exercise in fiscal prudence, no new stimulus, small moves to spur growth.” The paper also stated that instead of “risking a fiscal stimulus to give a boost to growth that has slid to its 20-quarter low of 5.8 per cent in January-March 2019, Sitharaman has preferred the path of fiscal rectitude and announced a series of policy intents that fell short of market expectations.”

The front page of Hindustan Times read: “Rights, duties & 5 trillion hopes”. The lede stated that the Union Budget “followed the prescription detailed in the Economic Survey…and focused on boosting investment to create a virtuous cycle to power growth, but steered clear of embarking on a rash of spending that could have bloated the fiscal deficit.”

The Telegraph’s lead headline was “Bahi khata n. ledger”. The blurb stated: “Nothing less, nothing more in budget untouched by mandate.”

Yesterday, Sitharaman had carried the Union Budget documents in a red bag, reminiscence of the traditional bahi-khata, instead of a briefcase carried by earlier finance ministers. Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian had explained the shift as the government following “Indian tradition”.

The Hindu‘s banner headline stated: “Step by Step”. The lede explained, “Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her maiden Budget on Friday, sought to tackle several pain points in the economy through incremental steps rather than opting for the spectacular announcement route.”

Leading Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar’s front page headline read: “Madhyam warg ko aabhaar, ameero per kr ka bhar (Gratitude to middle income, tax weight on the rich)”.

Dainik Jagran led with “Nae Bharat ki aur (Towards New India)”. The front-page also carried a caricature of Modi painting India’s map with a huge roller, as Sitharaman held up a paint canister.