Page 15 - Budget 2023

Domestic cyclicals key gainers from the infra push in the Budget

Street is bearish on exporters while there is a mixed opinion on the consumption basket

More funds for social sector in Budget: Pain points & what's on offer

Health spending dipped in 2022-23

Budget proposals don't seek privatisation of state-owned banks: DEA Secy

Finance Minister announced that to simplify, ease and reduce cost of compliance, financial sector regulators will be requested to carry out a comprehensive review of existing regulations

Health and employment: Union Budget's skilling push for job-ready youth

STEPPING UP: PMKVY 4.0, Unified Skill India Platform and stipend for apprentices

President's address vs Budget: Housing, free foodgrain, Railways, and more

What did the President say in her Budget session address vs what did the Budget have?

Govt hikes import duty on toys to 70% to boost domestic manufacturing

The government on Wednesday increased the import duty on toys and its components to 70 per cent with a view to cut inbound shipments of these products and boost domestic manufacturing activities. Similarly, import duty on bicycles has also been hiked to 35 per cent from 30 per cent, according to a Union Budget document. Import duty hike on toys and parts of toys excludes parts of electronic toys. Earlier, basic customs duty on toys was increased from 20 per cent to 60 per cent in February, 2020 to promote local manufacturing. Toys worth Rs 2,960 crore were imported into India earlier but steps by the government helped in reducing the imports to Rs 870 crore in 2021-22. On the other hand, the exports of toys have increased by 61 per cent from Rs 1,612 crore to Rs 2,601 crore in 2021-22. Earlier, the government issued Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 in February 2020. As per the order, toys have to conform to the requirements of relevant Indian standards and bear the standard ma

The Budget as a new credibility asset

The Budget reflects a solid continuity and even reinforcement of the development orientations and objectives pursued by the PM over quite a few years now

Life insurance firms' shares fall on taxation proposal related to policies

Shares of life insurance companies tumbled by up to 11 per cent on Wednesday after the government announced to limit income tax exemption from proceeds of insurance policies in certain cases. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company dropped 10.97 per cent to close at Rs 402.55 on the BSE. HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd fell 10.96 per cent, Max Financial Services Ltd slumped (9.45 per cent), SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd (9.31 per cent) and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) (8.38 per cent). According to Union Budget documents, an individual will have to pay tax on the maturity amount of life insurance policies where the aggregate annual premium exceeds Rs 5 lakh. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget on Wednesday proposed "to provide that where aggregate of premium for life insurance policies (other than ULIP) issued on or after April 1, 2023, is above Rs 5 lakh, income from only those policies with aggregate premium up to Rs 5 lakh shall be exempt". This will

Union Budget 2023: Big boost for affordable housing under PM Awas Yojana

Experts and key players hail announcements but lament that many of their other expectations remained unfulfilled

Budget 2023: Govt pegs FY24 disinvestment revenue target at Rs 51,000 crore

The government has scaled down the disinvestment target for the current fiscal to Rs 50,000 crore, from Rs 65,000 crore budgeted last year, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday. For the next fiscal 2023-24, the Budget has pegged disinvestment revenue at Rs 51,000 crore. Further, about Rs 10,000 crore is expected to come from monetisation of government assets in the current year and well as in the next fiscal. The proceeds from disinvestment form part of the miscellaneous receipts in the Capital Receipts Budget. As per the 2023-24 Budget document, the revised estimate for miscellaneous capital receipts for the current fiscal has been pegged at Rs 60,000 crore, lower than the Rs 65,000 crore projected in the Budget estimates for 2022-23. This Rs 60,000 crore includes Rs 50,000 crore from disinvestment proceeds and Rs 10,000 crore on account of asset monetisation, the official said. For the next fiscal beginning April 1, the miscellaneous capital receipts have been pegged a

Union Budget 2023: Kiren Rijiju hails outlay of Rs 7,000 crore for e-courts

Rijiju has termed the allocation as "unprecedented", which will create paperless courts for faster delivery of justice

Budget numbers highly doable, should push private capex cycle: BoB chief

Public sector Bank of Baroda chief executive Sanjiv Chadha said the budget push on public capex will nudge private companies which have been holding back investments for many years, to open their purse-strings now, leading to the much-awaited revival of an investment cycle. The budget proposes to increase public spending on infrastructure by a full 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore next fiscal even as it guided towards fiscal prudence with fiscal gaps being pegged at 6.4 per cent for FY23 and 5.9 per cent for FY24 and at 4.5 per cent by FY27. The budget also has penciled in a lower revenue growth forecast given the most-likely fall in nominal GDP from 15.5 per cent this fiscal to about 10 per cent next year. Discounting the poor market reaction to the budget as a short term, Chadha told PTI that the budget clearly underlines some consistent themes as it has been doing in the past many years. Even in the very uncertain times like now, there are four-five consistent budget themes in th

Budget 2023: Govt allocates nearly Rs 12,544 crore to Department of Space

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday allocated nearly Rs 12,544 crore to the Department of Space as India plans a human spaceflight - Gaganyaan - next year and sets out to explore the moon and neighbouring planets. The allocation is about 8 per cent lower than the Budget Estimate of Rs 13,700 crore for 2022-23, which was slashed to Rs 10,530.04 crore in the Revised Estimate. The largest chunk of the allocation -- to the tune of Rs 11,669.41 crore -- has gone to central sector schemes or projects such as the human spaceflight centre and various institutions of the department that deal with launch vehicle and satellite projects, including developmental and operational initiatives. Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-Space), the government's single-window body to deal with the private sector, received Rs 95 crore allocation against Rs 21 crore in the Revised Estimate. A large portion of the allocation, Rs 53 crore, has been earmarked for capital ..

Union Budget 2023: Govt proposes taxation changes related to REITs, InVITs

Seeking to widen the tax base, the government on Wednesday proposed to tax income distributed by business trusts like REITs and InVITs in the form of debt repayments at the hands of unitholders. "It is proposed to tax distributed income by business trusts in the hands of a unit holder (other than dividend, interest or rent which is already taxable) on which tax is currently avoided both in the hands of unit holder as well as in the hands of business trust," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech on Wednesday. The move is aimed at widening the tax base. Explaining the move in the memorandum of the Finance Bill, the government said that interest, dividend and rental income have been accorded a pass-through status at the level of business trust and are taxable in the hands of the unit holder. "However, in respect of the distributions made by the business trust to its unit holders which are shown as repayment of debt, it is actually an income of unit holder which

Govt projects 10.5% growth in revenue from taxes to Rs 18.23 trn in FY24

The government on Wednesday projected a 10.5 per cent growth in revenues from corporate and individual income tax to Rs 18.23 lakh crore in the next fiscal. The revised estimates for the current fiscal pegged direct tax revenues at Rs 16.50 lakh crore, higher than the budget estimates of Rs 14.20 lakh crore. In the current fiscal (2022-23), the revenues from direct tax (which includes income and corporate taxes) are projected to grow by over 17 per cent compared to 2021-22 fiscal when the collection was Rs 14.08 lakh crore. In the current fiscal, the revenue from corporate tax is expected to come in at Rs 8.35 lakh crore. This is projected to rise by 10.4 per cent to over Rs 9.22 lakh crore in the next fiscal. Personal income tax collections this fiscal are estimated at Rs 8.15 lakh crore and are projected to rise by 10.4 per cent to over Rs 9 lakh crore next year. Collections from Customs duty are expected to rise by 11 per cent to Rs 2.33 lakh crore, from Rs 2.10 lakh crore in t

Budget 2023-24: Soon, Rs 75K-crore transport connectivity projects

Sitharaman has announced that coastal shipping will be a preferred mode of transport for passengers and freight

Budget 'progressive'; ticks all boxes, powers India's growth drive: Scindia

The Union Budget is "progressive" and ticks all the boxes and powers the country's growth drive, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday. In a series of tweets, Scindia said the Budget is rightly focused on consumption and investment stimulus, and more money in the hands of the growing middle class. On Wednesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for 2023-24, which is also the last full-fledged budget of the current government before the general elections next year. Among other announcements, Sitharaman said the capital investment outlay is being increased steeply for the third year in a row by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore, which would be in 2023-24. "#AmritKaalBudget strikes a fine balance b/w uplifting women,youth, Kisan & the middle class, unleashing of animal spirits of MSMEs, and fiscal consolidation. A "progressive" budget that ticks all the boxes & powers India's growth drive. A budget for all! @nsitharaman," Scindia ...

Hero MotoCorp Chairman Munjal hails Budget; seeks GST cut on two-wheelers

Hero MotoCorp Chairman Pawan Munjal has called for a reduction in GST on two-wheelers to 18 per cent from current 28 per cent, while lauding the Union Budget 2023-24 as the dawn of a new high-growth economy, ensuring India's increased contribution to the global economy. The veteran auto industry leader noted that the two-wheeler segment, which has been witnessing subdued sales over the last few years, needs government support in terms of taxation. "There is a clear case for reducing the GST slab from 28 per cent to 18 per cent for the two-wheeler category, which has been adversely impacted over the past few years. This category is a means of mass mobility and should not be clubbed along with the luxury and sin goods category for GST slabs," Munjal said in a statement. He also said: "Further, now that the GST collections are buoyant, I urge the GST council to take this up since this segment is an income multiplier and its growth will boost the economy." Hero MotoCorp, the country's

Budget has neatly identified key priority areas, says Kaku Nakhate

Kaku Nakhate, President & India Country Head, Bank of America, talks about Union Budget 2023

Union Budget 2023-24: FM Sitharaman extends tax benefits to start-ups

The allocation for start-ups in the Budget include Rs 160 crore under Startup India Seed Fund (SISF)