Introduction
The Finance Minister of India has one of the least enviable jobs
in the country at the moment. With GDP growth on the decline and
other macro-economic indicators not suggesting a quick recovery,
Ms. Sitharaman has her task cut out. She is set to present the
Union Budget for 2020 which is likely to face close scrutiny and
will indicate the approach that the Modi government proposes to
take to address the current, rather stubborn, economic
downturn.
While the economy has been the subject matter of much debate
recently, there is no doubt that the Government has shown an intent
for major policy and structural reforms. With reforms in the areas
of foreign investment, corporate laws, insolvency, arbitration,
MSMEs and other aspects, India has jumped up the World Bank's
Ease of Doing Business rankings and now stands at the
63rd spot of 190 countries in 2020. An overhaul of
archaic employment laws and a new data protection and privacy
regime are also underway.
