New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, flanked by her deputy Anurag Thakur (to her right) and a team of officials, shows a folder containing the Union Budget documents as she poses for lensmen on her arrival at Parliament in New Delhi, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020.
Budget 2020: In a bid to revive the economic growth that slumped to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent in July-September quarter, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday slashed income tax for individuals, abolished dividend tax for companies and announced record spending in agriculture and infrastructure sectors. The government also announced a sale of government stake in the country’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). While presenting her second budget, Sitharaman said this budget was aimed at boosting incomes and enhancing purchasing power, stressing that the economy’s fundamentals were strong and inflation was well contained.
The Finance Minister proposed new tax slabs of 15 per cent and 25 per cent in addition to the existing 10 per cent, 20 per cent and 30 per cent. The new slabs would be for individuals not availing certain specified deductions or exemptions. Under the new, optional regime, those with a taxable income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh will pay 10 percent tax, against the present 20 percent. The new tax regime is optional for those willing to forego all exemptions. The nominal growth of GDP for 2020-2021 has been pegged at 10 per cent. The fiscal deficit target pegged at 3.5% of GDP
This was the longest Budget speech by any finance minister. Sitharaman, 60, broke her own record of a 2-hour-17-minute-long maiden Budget speech in July 2019. Peppered with a Kashmiri poem, Tamil couplets, the 2020 speech went on for over 2 hours and 30 minutes. She cut short her Budget speech after feeling unwell towards the end of the presentation.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex plummeted 988 points on Saturday to close below the key 40,000-mark, led by an intense broad-based selloff after the Union Budget for 2020-21 failed to live up to market expectations.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has kept a tight leash on spending despite a sputtering economy, tacitly admitting there is little fiscal space, and settled for a growth rate of just about 6 per cent for 2020-21, assuming an average inflation of about 4 per cent for the year. Read more
Employees' union of LIC has strongly opposed the government's plan to sell a part of its holding in the country's largest financial institution through a public issue. "The government proposes to sell a part of its holding in LIC through an initial public offer," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday while presenting the Budget for 2020-21. Currently, the government fully owns LIC.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday slammed the union budget, saying that it would neither help strengthen the economy nor ensure social security or development, but only further increase inflation and unemployment in the country. All the legitimate needs of the southern state were completely ignored in the budget,presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, though Kerala had submitted a detailed
Presenting the Budget 2020 in Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala listed three core themes for the Budget — Aspirational India, Economic Development For All and A Caring Society. See picture
Aiming to boost the affordable housing demand, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to extend the date of availing an additional Rs 1.5 lakh tax deduction on home loan interest by one more year till March 2021. The additional deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh over and above Rs 2 lakh was introduced in the last year's budget. This was allowed for those buying homes for the first time and of up to Rs 45 lakh and made applicable for home loans sanctioned till March this year. The finance minister also announced that builders will get tax holiday on affordable housing projects approved till March 2021.
Addressing a presser post-budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "an integrated approach to agriculture was adopted in the budget, which along with traditional methods will increase value addition in horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry and also increase employment."
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex plummeted 988 points on Saturday to close below the key 40,000-mark, led by an intense broad-based selloff after the Union Budget for 2020-21 failed to live up to market expectations.
The government’s strategy, or hope at least, is that leaving people with more money will help boost their consumption levels, which are at present quite subdued, as witnessed in the slump in sales of goods and services across the board. Higher consumption will bring down the inventories in the economy and incentivise businesses to invest again. The ground has been prepared to make investments attractive for businesses as the government has already cut the corporate tax rate last year. Read more
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"I agree the budget presentation was long, but it was absolutely youth-focused and each and every scheme we introduced will benefit the youth, " Sitharaman on opposition's reaction.
"MGNREGA is demand-driven scheme and it will be increased or adjusted according to the demand and hence a cut in rural budget, "Sitharaman in the post-budget presser.
"Recapitalisation budget of bank mergers will be decided as and when needed," says Sitharaman addressing a Press Conference
Revenue Secy Ajay Bhushan Pandey on exemptions: "We took a comprehensive review of all exemptions&found close to 120 exemptions. We took a review of each item. In order to offer a simplified system, now the total exemptions which have been removed from the new system is, about 70."
"People who are residents of no country in the world will be deemed to be a resident in India and his worldwide income will be taxed. A person now has to stay abroad for 240 days abroad to be exempted from the tax slab"
"Tax charter is our commitment to honour the taxpayers and enshrined the rights of taxpayers. The government's intent is to not harass taxpayers but to see them as wealth creators ," Finance Minister on Tax Charter
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the option of lower income tax rates: We wanted to place money in the hands of the people, particularly the middle class and lower-middle classes. We also wanted to simplify income tax process and increase compliance.
Finance Minsiter Nirmala Sitaraman is addressing a Press Conference now.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the government will sell a part of its holding in Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) through an initial public offering (IPO). The government owns 100 per cent of LIC. That LIC has been identified as a candidate for a potential public listing by the government, was reported first by The Indian Express in July 2019. The government’s move is a part of efforts to push through an aggressive disinvestment and asset monetisation programme. Read More
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman missed last two pages of the budget presentation. Here's the full text
After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ended her Budget speech abruptly after speaking for over two hours, Rahul Gandhi outside the Parliament told news agency ANI: "Congress leader Rahul Gandhi: Maybe this was the longest Budget speech in history but it had nothing, it was hollow."