'This kind of fiscal irresponsibility may help India's ruling Congress party win more elections, but it will not help the country live up to its economic promise,' he said.

'The budget in general will have pernicious long-term effects. The huge deficit is a heavy tax on the future that lowers India's growth trajectory. But there are additional devils in the details, in particular with regard to education and liberalisation.'

For most of this decade, India thrived, benefiting tremendously from earlier liberalisation, which, among other things, drew large inflows of foreign investment, he said. But 'now India is heading the wrong way on the economy'.

The US-India relationship is multifaceted and can certainly thrive based on political affinity and geostrategic considerations, Scissors said.

'But the direction that Congress has set for the past five years, topped off by this budget, is going to slow and perhaps limit India's ascension to a global economic force. That could limit the value of the (US-India) partnership.'

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in).