Ram Mohan Pulipati
The full-fledged Union Budget for the remaining eight months of 2024-25 financial year was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reflected continuation of policy direction the last two terms of the Narendra Modi led BJP government has taken up. Of course, this is NDA government, rather than BJP’s as allies, TDP and JDU play a big role for its stability.
Here I share the views of two economic analysts on the budget. The first one is Yezdi Nagporewalla and another Rajiv Memani. Both hailed the budget for its focus on strong fundamentals and long term vision to make India a developed country by 2047.
Budget 2024 has charted the course for transforming India into ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 in the ‘Amrit Kaal’ with sustained efforts and special focus areas on poor, women, youth and farmer and on nine priority areas: productivity and resilience in agriculture; employment & skilling; inclusive human resource development and social justice; manufacturing & services; urban development; energy security; infrastructure; innovation, research & development and next generation reforms says Nagporewalla
It places special emphasis on education, employment generation and skill development recognising these as crucial components for sustainable economic growth and social welfare.
The Finance Minister gave a significant impetus to the MSME sector to enable them to grow and compete on the global stage. In a welcome move public sector banks have now been tasked to build in-house capabilities to assess the MSME credit based on their digital footprint in the economy, rather than traditional modes of assessing based on assets and turnover criteria.
Realising the importance of innovation in economy, it is proposed that the government will come up with an economic policy framework that would steer next-generation reforms aimed at speeding up the economic expansion. The government also proposes to provide appropriate fiscal support for land reforms over the next three years.
Recognising the advancements in space sector, setting up of a VC fund of Rs 1,000 crore to specifically focus on space economy is another welcome move. Additionally, the government will also focus on the development of spiritual tourism as well as revival of cultural and scenic heritage which provides a boost to culture and identity of India along with providing the impetus to associated economic activities.
Empowering women has always been the focus of the government. This Budget announced several reforms for women ranging from establishing women working hostels, allocating Rs 3 trillion for schemes benefitting women and encouraging states to reduce stamp duty for properties purchased by women.
On the tax front, the Budget saw a special focus on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in India with direct tax announcements focusing on comprehensive review of Income Tax Act to make it concise and lucid, announcement of amnesty scheme ‘Vivad Se Vishwas 2024’, faster disposal of ongoing litigations, limited reopening of reassessments, additional incentives to IFSCs, reduced rate of corporate tax for foreign companies, withdrawal of 2 per cent equalisation levy, expanding the scope of safe harbour rules, simplification of foreign direct investment rules to ensure healthy foreign inflows in the country and simplification of outbound investment rules to promote INR usage etc.
In a significant move to augment the startup ecosystem, promote employment and investment opportunities, Angel tax is proposed to be abolished for all classes of investors.
Measures such as relaxing personal income taxes and increase in standard deduction under the new individual tax regime would enhance disposable income for mid salaried employees. However, increased rate of LTCG coupled with STT rate increase, taxation of buy back for recipients, removal of indexation benefit could potentially hurt sentiments of the earners in financial markets in the short term.
A few key tax expectations which still did not find mention in the Budget is the implementation of the OECD’s BEPS 2.0 – Global Minimum Tax (or GLoBE rules) in India and timelines for its enactment as well as extension of the sunset date for new manufacturing companies.
On the indirect tax front, Customs and GST reforms focus on simplification and rationalisation of rates to facilitate domestic manufacturing, promote exports, reduction in prices for cancer drugs, removal of duty inversions and reduction of disputes.
The government has maintained a well-balanced stance on fiscal consolidation with fiscal deficit target reducing to 4.9 per cent from 5.1 per cent in the interim Budget. This is further expected to lower in the next Budget.
This Budget is laden with a multitude of policy changes and most of them in the positive direction to boost the economy. Its success will however hinge on the effective implementation and collaborative efforts of the central government, state government and the private sector. If executed well, this Budget has the potential to propel India towards a prosperous and equitable future.
“Turning attention to full year and beyond, we particularly focus on employment, skilling, MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) and the middle class,” said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, clearly summing up the government’s intent while presenting this year’s Union Budget, says Rajiv Memani.
For me, some of the themes stand out that will fortify the foundation for future economic growth. The most transformative proposal is the one aimed at job creation and skill development for the youth. The second relates to direct tax changes and the announcement of a comprehensive review of the Direct Taxes Code. The others are the government’s thrust on domestic manufacturing and focus on expanding the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
With a median age of 28.4 years, it is a young India that would reinforce the country’s competitive advantage and unleash the consumption potential of the economy. The Budget’s innovative proposal for the top 500 companies to train 10 million youth through one-year internships over the next five years is particularly noteworthy. Under the programme, the government will fund 90 per cent of the internship allowance — that is, over Rs 50,000 per intern — while the training costs and balance 10 per cent allowance can come from the corporate-social responsibility (CSR) funds of companies. This strategy will fulfil the dual objectives of providing businesses with skilled workforce and enhancing the employment rate.
