Union Budget Will be a Game Changer: Yashwant Sinha

Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, who presented five straight Budgets between 1998 and 2002, expects the forthcoming Budget to be a "game changer".

"I think that it (Budget) is inevitable to be a game changer. Because this is the first full Budget of this government...It has got full time therefore Budget has to be different...and (I) hope the economy will revive," Mr Sinha said.

However, he added that the biggest challenge for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would be to find a way to revive the investment cycle in the economy.

"I think this time the biggest challenge for the Finance Minister is how we revive the investment cycle in this economy," he said.

Mr Sinha also suggested that the time has come for the Reserve Bank to cut interest rate by at least 0.5 per cent if not one per cent because the inflation is almost zero.

Referring to the GDP numbers released by Central Statistics Office, Mr Sinha said there is a need for greater scrutiny of data provided by the government body. As per the new data, growth for fiscal year 2013-14 was revised to 6.9 per cent from 4.7 per cent.

Mr Sinha also called for introduction of Direct Taxes code saying, "It is ready and cooked."