(Image source from: How P Chidambaram is expected to fool India today?})

Interim budgets are the time when politicians love to pull rabbits out off their hats and make a grandstand. And when the general elections are just months away from the beginning of a new financial year, such grandstandings are almost always followed by populist giveaways, even if there are no adequate fiscal space for that.

However, seems that Finance Minister P Chidambaram will put forward an unremarkable vote-on-account at the Lok Sabha today, devoid of any populist measures or tax concessions, despite the forthcoming elections.

Also, it seems that Vote-on-Account 2014-15 will hardly be a long-winded affair. Since an outgoing government can’t introduce any new taxes or concessions prior to an election, Chidambaram's speech is likely to be more political in nature.

India's Finance Minister will take his last shot at grandstanding today. The only reason why his vote-on-account will be important is because it will show the country how honest Chidu has been in presenting a “true and fair picture” of the government’s finances.

Considering his past track record on fudging accounts, chances are Chidambaram will outdo himself this time as well. He might employ one or all the seven tricks listed below to forward a convincing account of country's fiscal deficit, subsidies, revenue growth, etc.

Here is a detailed list of how FMs can fudge their books and make their budgets look better than they are. Read on to know.

Firstly, all deficit numbers by and large depends on the numerator and the denominator. The 4.8 percent fiscal deficit figure, as claimed by Chidambaram, can be shown on paper by manipulating the numerator — by cutting unspent expenditure.

Secondly, inflation is one of the best ways to fudge a finance report. If one uses inflation artificially to inflate the GDP number, the denominator will go up too (the GDP). Assuming a higher GDP will enable the Finance Minister to project lesser deficit. In the beginning of the year, none can contest these assumptions.

Thirdly, by hiding the expenses! The classic case is the oil subsidy. Until Pranab Mukherjee was made the FM, oil subsidies were recompensed by giving away bonds of an equivalent amount to the oil companies. These bonds added on to the government’s debt, but did not appear on the expenditure side of the budget. Result: a fake lower subsidy bill and deficit.

Fourthly, by shifting the expenses to someone else’s books! Once more, the oil exploration companies come into the picture. To this day, the finance ministry does not fully bear the subsidy on fuel. Oil companies like ONGC, Oil India and Gail share 40 percent of it. The exchequer's oil subsidy bill thus figures only 60 percent of the real number.

Fifthly, by shifting expenses to next year. This is what Chidambaram is likely to do this time as well to shrink the fiscal deficit. He can underfurnish all kinds of subsidies and convince the parliament that he will furnish more if required.

Sixthly, all the optimistic assumptions on strengthening of the rupee or lower global prices will automatically lower the subsidy bill.

Lastly, FMs can depend on public sector companies to bail them out.

These are just a few countable 'tactics' that FM's opt for to fudge records. Beware! Don't be fooled by any number that Chidambaram hurls at you in today's vote-on-account budget.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury