Team Budget 2021: Know The Brilliant Minds Behind Nirmala Sitharaman's 'Historic Budget'

India Union Budget 2021, Team Budget: In the annual budget to be presented today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team will have to consider demands from various sectors, citizens, and stakeholders to offer some relief in Covid times. Know more about the key personalities behind the Budget 2021.

FM Nirmala Sithraman with MoS Finance Anurag Thakur

It is going to be a historic budget for the Narendra Modi-led government under the shadow of the pandemic. The economy also suffered a severe blow because of the restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her team have been implementing fire fighting economic measures to help the country tide over the crises since May. In the annual budget to be presented today, the team will have to consider demands from various sectors, citizens, and stakeholders to offer some relief in Covid times. Also Read: Budget 2021: All Eyes On Nirmala Sitharaman As FM Set To Table Budget For Next Fiscal Shortly- Here's What To Expect

The Economic Survey, released on Friday, projected a GDP contraction of 7.7% for the year ending March 2021 and V-shaped recovery in the next. GDP growth is seen expanding by 11% in the 2021-22 fiscal (April 2021 to March 2022).

Here are the key architects of the Budget 2021

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary

Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey was appointed as the Finance Secretary last year. Pandey is a senior IAS officer with a BTech degree from IIT Kanpur and an MS and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota. He also played a crucial role in building Aadhaar. Pandey is tasked with raising resources, and in view of the $20 billion worth of corporate tax cuts last year yet to yield results in terms of investments, he might push the adoption of some of the proposals in the Direct Tax Code, as per the Economic Times report. The direct and indirect tax departments have beefed up efforts to widen the tax net this year and follow evaders and defaulters, and corporate tax and GST collections have shown promising signs in the past few months. Pandey will retire in end-February and hence targets are to be set accordingly.

T.V. Somanathan, Expenditure Secretary

Another key talent in the team is T.V. Somanathan, who is the latest entrant to the finance ministry. His primary role is to rationalise the government spending in such a way that it boosts demand and at the same time minimizes wasteful expenditure.  Somanathan, a 1987-batch IAS officer, served in Tamil Nadu cadre. He has experience of working in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) from April 2015 to August 2017.

Tarun Bajaj, economic affairs secretary

Tarun Bajaj, an old hand at the Finance Ministry took charge as the Economic Affairs Secretary. He comes back to North Block at a time when the economy is facing headwinds due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to taking over this post, he was the Additional Secretary in Prime Minister's Office.  Before joining Prime Minister's Office in 2015, Bajaj was Joint Secretary in Economic Affairs Department, looking after the multilateral funding agencies division. Bajaj has also been appointed as Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj as a director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He played a key role in helping shape the three ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ sets of relief measures.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Disinvestment Secretary

The responsibility of carrying out privatization of government-owned assets is upon Tuhin Pandey, the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. Some of the entities include privatization of Bharat Petroleum, Concor, Shipping Corp, and Air India, as well as the expected initial public offering of LIC Ltd. Pandey, is a 1987-batch officer who took over as the DIPAM secretary at a time when the government is preparing a second shot at privatizing Air India and the department was about to invite bids.  For 2020-21, DIPAM was given its highest target of Rs 2.1 lakh crore.

Debashish Panda, financial services secretary

IAS officer Debasish Panda was appointed as the new financial services secretary in 2019. Panda, a 1987-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre was special secretary, department of financial services prior to his new role. Most financial sector-related announcements expected in the budget are on his shoulder responsibility, including any further plans of recapitalization. Panda works closely with the central bank to ensure the stability of the financial system.

Krishnamurthy Subramanian, chief economic advisor

The chief economic advisor has worked closely with the former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. An alumnus of IIT, IIM as well as the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, his suggestions are considered to be important in the budget-making process. Before taking up his current role, he was a professor at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

Although his role in drafting the Economic Survey 2020-21 was also critical.