Yes, minister
It is early days yet to take the market borrowing amount in the receipts budget as given. Budget numbers invariably burgeon in the revised estimate: in 1998-99 the revised market borrowings were Rs 16,585 crore more than budgeted (up by third), and in 1997-98 the excess was Rs 8,664 crore (up by a fourth).

Mixed blessings requiring closer examination
One observation that can be made for successive Finance Bills and even for successive finance ministers is that often the fine print of the Finance Bill reveals far more problems which are conveniently side tracked in the budget Speech. This Finance Bill is no exception and let us examine two subjects.

Liberalising WMA
The RBI's revised scheme of ways and means advances (WMA) to states liberalises limits for both normal as well as special WMA. While normal WMA limits have been hiked by 65%, there will be no upper limit on special WMA.

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