With Budget 2019 done and dusted, all eyes now rest on the central bank as to how it will react on Budget announcements in its policy review. Piyush Goyal is scheduled to address customary post Budget meeting with RBI board on February 9.

\"With this budget, growth is likely to improve further and meeting 7.5 per cent real GDP target,\" says Karun Rishi, president of USA-India Chamber of Commerce.

Nomura estimated these tax benefits to the middle income class leading to a benefit of Rs 18,500 crore i.e. 0.1 per cent of GDP.

Heavy short-covering on expiry of January series futures and options (F&O) contracts too buoyed the benchmarks, analysts said.

Union Budget 2019: Goyal says that the people of country, who gave a strong mandate to the BJP in 2014, has taken several structural reforms, and reversed the image of policy paralysis to restore the nation's image.

A vote-on-account only deals with the expenditure side of the government's budget while an Interim Budget is a complete set of accounts, including both expenditure and receipts, akin to a full budget.

While the government will stay tethered to prudence, the balance will tilt in favour of populist measures designed to assuage restless voters who are currently sitting on the fence.

The expectations for some radical or path breaking policy announcements are dim, largely because it is to be a vote-on-account budget. On healthcare, major concerns revolved around Goods and Services Tax.

The Monetary Policy Committee is likely to stick with its 'neutral' stance and flag uncertainty over the inflation outlook beyond June due to factors such as oil prices and the government's promise of increasing the minimum purchase price of foodgrains from farmers.

As US and China get ready for a trade war, India needs clever policies and deft political manoeuvring to avoid collateral damage.