New Delhi, Feb. 1 -- Where does the Budget stand as far as its fiscal math is concerned? This question is best addressed by examining three factors: the exogenous variable of nominal GDP growth, trends in tax buoyancy and the quality of spending rather than just its quantitative impact.

The most important assumption is that inflation, more in terms of how it affects the GDP deflator than household budgets, will see some increase. It was a mere 0.6 percentage point in 2025-26 and is expected to be in the range of 2.8%-3.2% in 2026-27 if the Economic Survey's real growth projection of 6.8%-7.2% and the Budget's nominal growth projection of 10% are to be read together. This is not an unreasonable assumption to make given how things stand ri...