After a few days of the Union Budget presentation, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has defended the fiscal deficit figures in the budget and termed it as absolutely realistic. She noted that the government has been absolutely realistic both on the score of revenue generation and on the score of what can spend or borrow, so figures therefore are absolutely realistic keeping in mind the economy.
On inflation management, the minister said except for the seasonal perishable commodities which make up for significant size in the basket, prices of most goods and also particularly food products have been kept well within the acceptable norms.
While talking about banking sector and the question of people losing faith in cooperative banks, Sitharaman said the government had shown concrete action in the latest budget by increasing the deposit insurance from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. She also added that this has not been done for decades and the government has also brought in a bill to amend banking regulation act to include cooperatives.