Sitharaman set to present her 7th Budget, high expectations for I-T relief

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present her seventh straight Union budget on Tuesday, 23 July, in the Lok Sabha. This will be the government's first budget since the recent general elections which saw an NDA government coking to power with the BJP failing to meet it's target of seats single handedly.

After presenting the budget, Sitharaman will address a press conference along with the minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, finance secretary T.V. Somanathan, secretaries of Ministry of Finance and chief economic adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran to the government on Tuesday afternoon.

The budget is expected to focus on supporting consumption via higher allocation for the rural economy, taxation reforms, infrastructure push, thrust on local manufacturing, job and skill creation and an increase in production-linked incentive (PLI) allocation to more labour-intensive sectors.

The spotlight would likely be on changes in the income tax structure to benefit taxpayers across all segments and on improving the ease of doing business in the country.

The budget could increase capital expenditure and may usher in a more standardised approach to taxation, according to Moody's Analytics. It will be crucial to see how the government raises the required funds for its budgetary proposals.

According to experts, there is a need to infuse investments in districts and rural areas, both for accelerating traditional economic activities as well as the new economy, especially focused on circularity.

Focusing on creating rural areas as champions of circularity holds significant potential, as overall sustainability becomes a key priority.

The Economic Survey 2023-2024 projects India's GDP growth rate at 6.5 to 7 per cent for 2024-25 as it sees the economy on a strong wicket.

However, achieving a seven per cent GDP growth rate "is doable" for India despite the global environment has become more challenging since the beginning of the year, according to Chief Economic Adviser Nageswaran.

With IANS inputs