Economist Kunal Saraogi raises questions on NYAY scheme

Demolishing Congress president Rahul Gandhi's claim of NYAY scheme being a step towards eradication of poverty, economist Kunal Saraogi said that the implementation would be a question. Saraogi also predicted inflation and fiscal deficit

New Delhi: With the announcement of the NYAY scheme ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Congress' ace card to woo voters has been seen as a game changer. However, contradicting the opinion noted economist and financial expert Kunal Saraogi said that the implementation would be a big question.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Saraogi said, "As of now this scheme seems more of optics than anything else. There are a lot of specifications that need to be decided and the implementation of such a scheme would always be hard".

He added: "If you look at any of the welfare schemes all around the world, you realise that someone is bearing the burden for that and it is always the taxpayers."

Speculating the after effects, Saraogi said, "If such an ambitious welfare scheme is actually implemented, the burden is going to fall on the taxpayers. This sort of scheme is definitely going to increase the fiscal deficit and inflation can also be expected to rise."

Elaborating on Congress' idea of Goods and Services Tax (GST) 2.0, the expert said that GST has steadily started showing the positives hidden in it and is being systematically rationalised.

He further claimed that the idea of GST 2.0 is the idea of 'one nation, one tax'.