Middle Class

Middle-class India has a new obsession: Expensive pre-wedding videos

Middle-class India has a new obsession: pre-wedding videos. They're extravagantly designed and choreographed, with music, dance routines and, often, movie-style sets

New tax regime to benefit middle class; leave more money in their hands: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the new tax regime will benefit the middle class as it will leave more money in their hands. Talking to reporters after the customary post-Budget address to the central board of RBI, she said it is not necessary to induce individuals to invest through government schemes but give him an opportunity to make a personal decision regarding investments. Under the revamped concessional tax regime, which will be effective from the next fiscal, no tax would be levied on income up to Rs 3 lakh. Income between Rs 3-6 lakh would be taxed at 5 per cent; Rs 6-9 lakh at 10 per cent, Rs 9-12 lakh at 15 per cent, Rs 12-15 lakh at 20 per cent and income of Rs 15 lakh and above will be taxed at 30 per cent. However, no tax would be levied on annual income of up to Rs 7 lakh. Answering a question on the Adani Group crisis, the minister said, "Indian regulators are very, very experienced and they are experts in their domain. The regulators are seize

Higher investment limit in saving schemes to help sr citizens, middle class

The decision to raise the investment ceilings in small savings schemes is aimed at benefiting senior citizens and the middle class who park funds in safe government deposit schemes offering higher returns than banks, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan has said. The Budget 2023-24 raised the maximum deposit limit for Senior Citizen Savings Scheme from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. Also, the maximum deposit limit for Monthly Income Account Scheme will be enhanced from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 9 lakh for a single account and from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for a joint account. In a post-budget interview with PTI, Somanathan said the ceilings under the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme have been unchanged for quite some time, and the decision to raise the ceiling is primarily a measure for the welfare of the middle class and senior citizens. "There was a feeling that people in advanced age need safe investment options, and the incomes have increased in the period between the last revision and now. So, this

New tax rates will raise purchasing power of middle class: Bandhan Bank CEO

The revision in income tax rates will increase the purchasing power of the middle class sections of the society, Bandhan Bank's Chief Executive Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said

When the middle class takes centre stage

While the tax slabs may be reasonable, many exemptions have become anachronisms - they don't reflect the reality when we take into consideration the cost of inflation

Tell middle class about schemes which benefitted them: PM asks ministers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked Union ministers to reach out to the middle class with details of schemes which have benefitted it, sources said. Chairing a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers here ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1, he said while government schemes have benefitted the poor and the marginalised, several initiatives have also been taken for the middle class that have made their life easier, the sources said. The prime minister wanted the Union ministers to carry facts while reaching out to the middle class with details of the initiatives which helped them in various ways. Hard copies of the presentations made during the meeting were given to the ministers to spread the message. This was the first meeting of the Union Council of Ministers to be held in 2023. As India marks 75 years of its Independence, the prime minister suggested that things and laws which were reminiscent of the British Raj be flagged and scrapped, the .

Finance Ministry contemplating sops for middle class in upcoming Budget

The finance ministry is considering proposals to benefit the middle class in its last full Budget of the Narendra Modi 2.0 government to be presented on February 1 in the Lok Sabha. The finance ministry is looking into proposals sent by various government departments on specific steps which may be announced in the Budget, benefitting a large section of the middle class, sources said. The government has not raised income tax exemption limit from Rs 2.5 lakh which was fixed in 2014 by the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his first Budget. Also the standard deduction has remained at Rs 50,000 since 2019. Several experts are of the opinion that the exemption limit as well as standard deduction need to be increased to compensate salaried middle class for elevated level of inflation. The recent statement of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that she was aware of pressures of the middle class has raised hope that some incentives may come for them in the upcoming Budget. "I too bel

Budget 2023: I belong to middle class, understand their pressures, says FM

Ahead of the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday that she was aware of the pressures of the middle class but also recalled that the present government has not imposed any fresh taxes on them. Sitharaman will present Union Budget for 2023-24 in the Lok Sabha on February 1 amid expectations that the government will raise the income tax limit and provide relief to the middle class taxpayers, besides others. "I too belong to the middle class so I can understand the pressures of the middle class. I identify myself with the middle class so I know," she said while speaking at a function organised by the Panchjanya magazine, an RSS- associated weekly. In the same breath, the minister reminded the audience that the present Modi government has not imposed any fresh taxes on the middle class. Also, she added, income of up to Rs 5 lakh is exempt from the income tax. She said the government has taken various measures like developing the metro rail network in 27 cit

Centre's housing initiatives will benefit middle class, slum dwellers: Puri

The middle class, slum dwellers and the poor in Delhi will benefit from the BJP-ruled Centre's various initiatives related to housing such as increase in floor area ratio (FAR) and regularisation of unauthorised colonies, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday. Ahead of the December 4 election to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Puri addressed a press conference along with party MPs from the national capital. He said a total of 1.35 crore residents of Delhi will benefit from the government's various redevelopment initiatives -- 50 lakh people through regularisation of unauthorised colonies under the Pradhan Mantri Unauthorised Colonies in Delhi Awas Adhikar Yojana (PM-UDAY), 75 lakh through the land pooling exercise in rural areas and 10 lakh people through the 'Jahan Jhuggi Wahin Makan' scheme. The Delhi BJP, in its manifesto for the MCD polls, has promised to work with the Centre to provide economically weaker sections (EWS) flats to all slum dwellers in the

One out of every three Indians 'middle class'; to double by 2047: Report

The report released by PRICE added that the share of middle class in the total population rose from 14 per cent in 2004-05 to 31 per cent in 2021-22

The declining middle class leaves politics unruffled

The Congress and the united Opposition need to show economic leadership. They have described the symptoms of the economic crisis but failed to create a narrative that goes beyond it

Why urban families earning Rs 1L a month should be considered low income

Those who the govt thinks are rich are actually quite poor, and we need to rethink our notions of rich and poor for tax purposes

Cong questions govt over corp tax cut resulting in negative revenue impact

The Congress on Tuesday questioned the BJP government over corporate tax cut leading to a revenue loss of Rs 1.84 lakh crore while the middle-class was charged at the peak rate of 30 percent.

Whither the middle class?

How to arrest a worldwide decline

'Soaring prices' hurting middle class, says Congress leader Chidambaram

P Chidambaram on Friday highlighted the "plight" of the middle class due to rising prices of daily use items and said if such is their state, imagine the "terrible pain" of the poor families.

Only Congress governs for welfare of poor, middle class: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stepped up his attack on the government over the hike in price of domestic LPG cylinder, and said only his party governs for the welfare of poor and middle class families. Cooking gas LPG prices were on Saturday hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder, the second increase in rates in just over six weeks following the firming of international energy rates. Non-subsidised LPG now costs Rs 999.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder in the national capital, up from Rs 949.50 previously, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. In a tweet, Gandhi compared the price of domestic LPG cylinder of about Rs 410 with a subsidy of Rs 827 in 2014 under a Congress-led government to that of over Rs 999 with "zero subsidy" in 2022 under the BJP-led Centre. "2 cylinders then for the price of 1 now!" the former Congress chief said. "Only Congress governs for the welfare of poor & middle class Indian families. It's the core of our economic policy," he said. After

Middle income group purchases more gold in India, says report

The Gold and Gold Markets 2022 report by India Gold Policy Centre (IGPC) also said that people in the higher income group are interested in having the yellow metal in digital or paper format

These tech firms are taking the e-commerce battle to India's hinterlands

How social commerce firms are democratising e-retail by tapping community group buyers from tier-2 and smaller towns across India

WFH rules helped middle class during Covid-19 pandemic, says PM Modi

"The rules framed for WFH during the corona period made the lives of the urban middle class much easier," Modi said

More than one billion Asians will join global middle class by 2030: Study

Bangladesh set to rise up the rankings fastest; India and China to add about three-quarters of a billion members between them.