In cricketing terms, being “caught on the wrong foot” refers to a situation where a batsman is poorly positioned or unbalanced while playing a shot, often due to misjudging the line, length, or pace of the delivery. This phrase is also used metaphorically to describe an entity being caught off guard or unprepared in a broader context.
After stripping the Union Budget 2025-26 of its hype and hoopla regarding “massive income tax cuts and putting more money in hands of taxpayers” and delivering decisively on propelling India on the trajectory of “Viksit Bharat”, the Union Budget 2025-26 delivered by our Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman appears to be caught on the wrong foot; as it has completely misread the economic challenges before the nation and therefore done a “Jatey They Japan Pahunch Gaye Cheen” (“We were going to Japan, but ended up in China”).
Economic Challenges and Expectations
The Finance Minister knew the economic challenges the nation was confronted with. Hence, it was expected that the Union Budget 2025-26 would serve as a blueprint for driving both short-term adjustments and long-term structural changes to address those challenges. India is experiencing slowing growth momentum due to global headwinds.
Although the government keeps parroting the theme of “India being the fastest growing economy in the world”, the fact remains that there has been a fall of ₹41,240 crore in revenue receipts, clearly indicating a slowdown in the economy. There is high unemployment, especially among youth, and inflation is on the rise, particularly for food and fuel.
Mitigating rural distress and improving farm incomes through structural reforms along with financing green energy transitions and sustainable development goals were major tasks before the budget, as also funding critical infrastructure and social welfare programmes. Hence, it was expected that the Union Budget 2025-26 would be an expansionary budget with policies geared to stimulate growth, given the need to revive demand, create jobs, and support vulnerable sectors. Key focus areas should have been increased public investment in infrastructure, targeted social spending, and incentives for private sector participation, while avoiding excessive populism.
Fiscal prudence to avoid inflationary pressures and maintain macroeconomic stability is a “Sine qua non” for all budgets but should not serve as an excuse to ignore the fundamental rights of providing basic necessities of life to hundreds of millions of deserving Indians.
Numbers Show the Direction of the Budget
On the expenditure side, the total expenditure has been reduced by ₹1,04,025 crore. Capital Expenditure (spending towards infra like roads, ports, bridges) saw a drop of ₹92,682 crore in 2024-25. The budgeted capex for next year is less than ₹10,000 crore over the current year. Among the sectors affected by these cuts, Health saw a reduction of ₹1,255 crore, Education was cut by ₹11,584 crore, Social Welfare by ₹10,019 crore, Agriculture by ₹10,992 crore, Rural Development by ₹75,133 crore, Urban Development by ₹18,907 crore, and the Development of the Northeast by ₹1,894 crore.
Let’s get into the specifics for a few. The budget for school education saw a modest increase from ₹73,000 crore (2024-25 BE) to ₹78,600 crore (2025-26 BE), a 7.6% rise. However, this increase barely keeps pace with inflation and fails to address significant gaps in human resources and infrastructure. Moreover, the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2024-25 show a reduction to ₹68,000 crore, indicating ₹5,000 crore less than initially allocated. The allocation for the Mid-Day Meal Scheme PM POSHAN remained stagnant at ₹12,500 crore (2025-26 BE), with the RE for 2024-25 dropping to ₹10,000 crore, a ₹2,467 crore reduction. This undermines efforts to improve meal quality and extend coverage to higher classes.
The health budget increased by 9.5%, from ₹88,000 crore (2024-25 BE) to ₹96,000 crore (2025-26 BE). However, the RE for 2024-25 was ₹87,000 crore, showing a ₹1,000 crore cut. This marginal increase is insufficient to meet the recommended 3% of GDP spending target for health. The National Health Mission (NHM) budget saw a meagre 3.4% increase, from ₹36,000 crore (2024-25 BE) to ₹37,223 crore (2025-26 BE), which is a decline in real terms. This undermines efforts to strengthen primary healthcare systems. For the Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 schemes, the allocation for 2025-26 is ₹21,960 crore, up slightly from ₹21,200 crore (2024-25 BE). However, the RE for 2024-25 was ₹20,070 crore, indicating a ₹1,130 crore reduction.
The cost norms for nutritional support remain outdated, with no significant increase in wages for Anganwadi workers. The budget continues to treat the social sector as a residual, with allocations skewed towards large-scale infrastructure projects and fiscal consolidation.
Despite rhetoric about “investing in people,” the allocations for health, education, and social protection remain far below global standards and India’s own targets (3% of GDP for health and 6% for education).
Setting Our Priorities
If we look at the distribution of where a Rupee is spent (see Table), we will understand our spending priorities and which is also one of our challenges that must be addressed.
| Centrally Sponsored Scheme | Central Sector Scheme
| Other Expenditure | Pensions | Interest
| State Taxes Duties
| Defence | Finance Commission | Subsidies |
| 8%
| 16% | 8%
| 4%
| 20% | 22% | 8%
| 8%
| 6% |
A large share of expenditure (20%) goes toward interest payments on debt. Had we endeavoured towards making an interest-free economy, we could have utilised this huge portion of funds for peoples’ welfare.
Defence receives a notable allocation (8%), underscoring the importance of national security and military modernisation in the government’s agenda. Though securing our borders and homeland from any threats is mandatory, we must look at ways to improve ties with our neighbours and try to reduce this allocation progressively over time.
Other Expenditure (8%) includes administrative costs, grants, and miscellaneous expenses, which are necessary but not directly tied to development or welfare. This too can be reduced by adhering to the principle of avoiding “israaf” (overspending).
India is aiming to become the fastest growing economy in the world and reach GDP levels of over $7 trillion and more. Experts say that it would require sustained growth of over 8% whereas we are now moving at 6%. The government must spend maximum resources on human resource development regardless of class, caste, creed, language, geography and rise above short-term political benefits. As long as it locks the budget for doing vote bank politics, the economy cannot be unshackled to grow at its full potential.