Feb 01, 2019 05:26 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Union Budget 2019-20 LIVE: Congress only made tall promises, we executed them, says FM Piyush Goyal
Cheer for middle income tax payers. FM Goyal announces tax rebate and increase in standard deduction.
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Arun Thukral, MD & CEO, Axis Securities: Middle-class tax payers, including salaried and pensioners, are here to see some ‘Acche Din’ owing to tax sops announced in the Interim Budget 2019 and which came in over and above the expectations.
The government has proposed a tax rebate on the income up to Rs 5 lakh, meaning that taxpayers earning up to Rs 5 lakh will be exempted from paying taxes but will have to file returns without fail to claim the same. Other taxpayers get an increase in standard deduction to Rs 50,000. There will be no TDS on house rent up to Rs 2.4 lakh and also no TDS on the bank, post-office interest up to Rs 40,000 (earlier Rs 10,000), a relief particularly for senior citizens.
To sum it up, the government has rightly addressed the broadest segment of society — the middle-class taxpayer — in this Interim Budget. In the entire endeavor, the FM managed to please the debt market by containing the target current account deficit to 2.5% for FY19 and fiscal deficit to 3.4% for both FY19 and FY20. Overall, the finance minister gave a road map and vision for next 10 years where he would like to take the economy, reducing hassles of the taxpayers and going digital thereby reducing the personal interface between taxpayer and tax officers. Overall, the budget struck a chord with almost all the segments of the society.
FM on Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's remark 'economic condition of country worse than Emergency': I believe the government has succeeded on all levels. Inflation is down to 4.5% from 10%. If inflation had continued like times of Congress, then your household budget would have been 35-40% higher.
FM Piyush Goyal to ANI: This was the first large scale change in the history of independent India. It's natural that if this is done, there will be a few difficulties. But I thank tax payers & those in business sector that they accepted this and are getting direct benefits today.
FM Piyush Goyal to ANI: If the tax collection is so good, it shows that GST is a successful measure. It has prepared the nation for rapid development. It is not a poor implementation, there is no country which dared to make such a large-scale change.
Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet: This has been a fabulous budget and I compliment my good friend and Finance Minister Piyush Goyal for a fantastic job. The FM has managed to do something for a large cross-section of the society — the middle class, the farmers, workers in the unorganised sector. At the same time, he has ensured that fiscal deficit remains at 3.4%. This is a people's budget that will help the economy and also lays down a vision for the next 10 years. This could well be a game changer budget in this election year.
I feel that the government with this budget has certainly injected a lot of josh without losing its hosh!
FM on new tax slab: Around 3-3.5 cr people will be benefitted. We'll get a final data when the final tax returns of the next year come... We have not disturbed the tax rates. We just made the change that those with an annual income less than Rs 5 lakh will have to pay zero tax.
FM to ANI: Want to take irrigation through micro irrigation route and through organic farming which takes much less water, this is going to be a priority for the government. In the next 10 years, will make sure everybody get benefit of good irrigation facilities.
FM to ANI: Instead of being looked at as Rs 500 per month for farmers, it has been introduced as a supplemental income. They're our 'anndaata' & provide us food security... Sitting over here, it's very difficult to imagine how important this Rs 6,000 is in the life of a small farmer.
FM to ANI: Instead of being looked at as Rs 500 per month for farmers, it has been introduced as a supplemental income. They're our 'anndaata' & provide us food security... Sitting over here, it's very difficult to imagine how important this Rs 6,000 is in the life of a small farmer.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in interview to ANI: Why is it that they(Congress) never bothered for the healthcare of the farmers like we did? Why is it that they never bothered to ensure electricity to all as we did? Except making tall promises, they did nothing.
Boman R Irani, Chairman & Managing Director, Rustomjee Group: The budget announcement has been affirmative by opening investment market for second homes. Tax rebate for income up to Rs 6.5 lakh under 80C will accelerate investments in the housing sector. With RERA and Benami Transaction Act, bringing in tremendous transparency in the sector, there has been a surge in housing demand from the NRI community.
The government’s proposal to extend the period of exemption from levy of tax on notional rent, on unsold inventories, from one year to two years is a good rational move. The lowering of GST on properties is a positive move provided that ITC is continued thereby allowing a real reduction in prices to consumer.
Lakshmi Iyer, Chief Investment Officer (Debt) & Head Products, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company: The key focus, among other things, for bond markets was the fiscal math. While the fiscal deficit as % of GDP has been pegged at 3.4, the gross borrowing programme of Rs 7.10 lakh crore has spooked market sentiments. Market is also worried about how the revenue side estimates will actually pan out. Additionally, key to note is that ~60% of net government supply in FY19 was cushioned by RBI OMO bond purchases. Uncertainty on how much would be the quantum of OMOs and will they actually be needed will be a uncertain sword hanging in the market.
For now, we expect bond yields to remain at current elevated levels with sideways movement till MPC meeting slated for next week offers some clarity. Short duration funds are a better suited option for investors to participate in fixed income.
Bhargav Dasgupta, MD & CEO, ICICI Lombard General Insurance: The Finance Minister has announced a progressive budget that aims at uplifting India’s populace, both in the cities as well as the villages. Schemes aimed to boost farmer income, reduce tax outgo for the middle-class tax payers should encourage consumption among India’s aspiring and diverse population. Further, steps such as developing 1 lakh digital villages is a significant move forward for the Digital India movement. For the insurance industry, these measures aimed at additional savings and boosting digital infrastructure. Thus, acting as catalysts for distribution, expansion and increasing penetration of segments such as motor, health insurance, crop insurance etc.
Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal: We have enormous space for reduction of interest rates.
Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal: Deviations are very small compared to what we have been used to. No such thing as 'oil bonds' was floated during the UPA tenure. Capital expenditure has been robust. I don't think anyone can fault the government fo not taking infra seriously. I can also say that we will see some transfer of wealth from the rest of the country to the farmer.
Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal: There is a fair amount of buoyancy In direct taxes. The primary deficit is being kept well in control. The fiscal deficit Is primarily because of interest payments.
Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy: I want to ask if this budget was prepared by officials of Finance dept or RSS? In this budget, Narendra Modi has given cotton candy for farmers. When I announced loan waiver scheme, PM mocked it as lollipop. Friends of BJP have prepared this budget.
Homi Mistry, Partner-Deloitte India: Interim budget 2019 brings good news for low-mid salaried income earners, where an individual earning upto Rs 7 lakh may end up paying no tax, considering eligible investment deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh and increased standard deduction of Rs 50,000.
Dr Vishal Beri, CEO, Hinduja Healthcare Surgical: This is a pro-people Budget overall. We welcome the Interim Budget which focuses on a broader vision of building healthy growth-oriented India. The government’s focus on ‘Digital India’ shows road map for building healthcare advanced facilities in rural India. The focus was clearly on bridging the urban-rural gap through upgrading infrastructure. We hope ‘Digital India’ will have its positive effect on healthcare infrastructure as well with emphasis on telemedicine and advanced technologies. This will further boost in improvising the health conditions of rural India.
However, the overall Budget allocation for the healthcare sector has remained the same, which should have increased substantially to improve the quality of care. We hope that the Budget session post Loksabha Elections will bring interesting news and government spending for the healthcare sector.
Dr Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman & Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare: One interesting highlight in the Interim Budget is the vision for ‘Healthy India’ by building a distress free, functional and comprehensive healthcare and wellness system by 2030. With the launch of Ayushman Bharat, wherein Rs3000 crores have been allocated, I believe we are moving in the right direction.
With the proposal for Digital India, the government is keen on converting 1 lakh villages of India into digital villages. The focus is on reducing the urban-rural gap through best in class infrastructure. We are hopeful that this will eventually result in reducing the urban-rural gap in healthcare delivery.
Another remarkable announcement by Finance Minister was emphasis on technology-driven growth and setting up National Artificial Intelligence (AI) portal to be set up soon. We are hopeful that this will further benefit the healthcare sector with introduction of AI for better detection and treatment areas.
What we missed in this budget is the increase in budget pie for healthcare. We are hopeful that the government in the long run will certainly take a step further on this.