Union Budget 2019: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday announced a slew of measures in her maiden Budget 2019-20 speech in the Parliament today. Among key announcement, Sitharaman said the government will launch an inter-opearable ATM-like One Nation One Card for pan-India travel, new rental laws for affordable housing, interest subvention scheme for MSMEs and women.

Here’s what Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget 2019 speech:

The recent election which brought us to this august House today, was charged with brimming hope and desire for a bright and stable New India. Like never before, India celebrated its democracy by coming out to vote in large numbers, like never before. Voter turnout was the highest at 67.9%. Every section – young, old, first time voters, voters since the first General Election, women – all turned up to stamp their approval of a performing Government. Through their unambiguous and firm mandate they have reaffirmed “putting the nation first”. The people of India have validated the two goals for our country’s future: that of national society and economic growth.

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Union Budget 2019: The Union Budget for financial year 2019–20 (FY20) has used the revised numbers for FY19 as the benchmark as against the accounts, which showed a smaller size of almost Rs 1.5 trillion to almost retain the budgetary numbers for the coming year with a marginal improvement in the fiscal deficit number to 3.3 per cent.

While the speech has focused on the main thrust areas, benefits have been provided to specific sectors like affordable housing and electric vehicles. It has kept most of the tax structures unchanged. Customs rates have been selectively increased and petrol and diesel are to cost more as this is an assured revenue stream for the government.

A major takeaway is the bank recapitalisation (bank recap) amount of Rs 70,000 crore that has been announced. However, this would be through the issuance of securities, which means that once again it will not be a part of the budget but an offering through the recap bonds route. The cost of such an exercise would be witnessed through the interest payments that have to be made over a period of time. The infusion of such capital is welcome, as it will help banks to lend especially so as six of the public sector banks (PSBs) have come out of the prompt and corrective (PCA) framework and would require capital to grow.

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Union Budget 2019: Setting a new precedent Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday was seen hugging the budget documents wrapped in a red cloth, the traditional ‘bahi khaata’ way, instead of the leather briefcase that until now her predecessors walked around with.

Chief Economic Advisor K. Subramanian said that it was a departure from “slavery of western tradition”. The red cloth symbolises the ‘bahi khaata’ traditionally used in every Indian business set up to maintain accounts.

Sitharaman was seen carrying the red cloth wrapped budget papers that was neatly bound with the auspicious yellow and red ribbon. The Lion Capital shone brightly on top of the bahi khaata, as the first-time Finance Minister walked out of the North Block.

Traditionally until now all former Finance Ministers have carried their Budget Document in a hardbound leather briefcase that takes after the parallel British custom — much like many of India’s laws and Parliamentary practices.

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Union Budget 2019: All eyes are set on the first Union Budget under Modi 2.0 that is slated to be unveiled on Friday (July 5).

With a clear evidence of economic slowdown and weak corporate earnings, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has her task cut out. Deep agrarian distress, high unemployment rates, the slowdown in automobiles and consumer demand, crisis in NBFC (non-banking financial company) sector and rising pressures in real estate and housing and muted capex cycle in the economy are some of the pressing issues that need addressal.

Market experts expect the government to lay out a growth-oriented budget to pump-prime the economy. The priority, they say, should be to arrest the declining growth momentum and the crisis of confidence by being a little expansionary this time. Since inflation is expected to be benign in the short-to-medium term, many experts feel the government should let go of the fiscal deficit target of 3.4 per cent set in the Interim Budget in February 2019.

The domestic market has not witnessed any pre-budget rally this time as the stocks surged in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections and hopes of Modi government returning to power.

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Union Budget 2019:With the Narendra Modi-led NDA government going into its second term, albeit with a stronger majority, the start-up community expects it follow through on entrepreneurial policies introduced over the last five years and remove a dozen or so bottlenecks to position the country as a start-up powerhouse.

The interim budget presented on February 1 this year, which is only meant to support activities for two-three months in an election year, was understandably missing on big-bang announcements for start-ups. All eyes are on the Union Budget that will be presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday.

According to half a dozen experts Business Standard spoke to, the industry is looking ahead for more tax sops for start-ups, a simpler and toned-down compliance regime and a uniform policy framework that courts foreign business and investors in India as well as supports local entrepreneurship.

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Union Budget 2019: The government is likely to stick to a modest rise in defence spending in the 2019/2020 budget due on Friday because of government finances, officials said, further delaying a long-planned military modernisation programme.

India’s air force desperately needs hundreds of combat planes and helicopters to replace its Soviet-era aircraft while the navy has long planned for a dozen submarines to counter the expanding presence of the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean.

The army, a large part of which is deployed on the border with traditional foe Pakistan, has been seeking everything from assault rifles to surveillance drones and body armour.

But these plans have been on hold for years because governments have not been able to set aside large sums and most of the defence expenditure goes on salaries and pensions for a 1.4 million standing military, the world’s second largest after China.

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Union Budget 2019: Economic Survey 2019, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, painted an optimistic picture of the Indian economy, projecting the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) would grow at seven per cent in 2019-20, against a five-year low of 6.8 per cent the previous year, with political stability aiding a pick-up in demand and investments. India would need to grow at 8 per cent annually to become a $5-trillion economy by FY25, the Survey estimated.

The forecast is the same as the Reserve Bank of India’s reading, which in June lowered its projection by 20 basis points from 7.2 per cent. A gloomy global outlook spawned by US-China trade tensions also prompted the central bank to cut interest rates three times this year, with the focus now shifting to the government’s Budget on Friday for measures to support the economy. The finance ministry said in its annual Economic Survey report that upside and downside risks to growth were evenly balanced, with monsoon rainfall seen tipping the scales. “The political stability in the country should push the animal spirits of the economy, while the higher capacity utilisation and uptick in business expectations should increase investment activity,” said the Survey, authored by Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is widely expected to push up spending to spur economic growth through tax incentives to boost consumer demand and investment, officials of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said. Modi won a second term with a landslide victory in general elections held in April and May.

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Union Budget 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Friday will unveil a budget that is expected to cut taxes on business and raise spending in a bid to shore up consumption and faltering economic growth.

Analysts say Modi, boosted by a sweeping election victory, hopes to use the budget to restart reforms and deal with a series of economic http://woes.In January-March, annual growth slumped to 5.8%, the slowest pace in 20 quarters. Growth for the financial year that ended in March was 6.8%, also a five-year low, and indicators such as plummeting industrial output and automobile sales have stoked fears of a deeper slowdown.

A shortfall in monsoon rains, pivotal for the farm sector that employs nearly half of India’s workers, has increased concerns of rural distress and strengthened the case for intervention, a leader of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said.”The focus of the budget will be to boost domestic consumption, address the rural crisis and support small manufacturers,” Gopal Krishna Agarwal, BJP’s economic affairs spokesman, told Reuters.

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Budget 2019: The mutual fund (MF) industry has sent its Budget wish list to the finance ministry, seeking clarity on the tax treatment of toxic assets held under a segregated portfolio and asking for long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax exemption for equity-oriented schemes.

The LTCG tax was levied on equity-oriented funds last year. The industry body — Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) — pointed out that the introduction of LTCG tax places MF products at a disadvantage vis-à-vis unit-liked insurance plans (ULIPs).

“With high commissions and incentive structure in the life insurance sector, retail investors could be lured away by the insurance agents as retail investors may not understand the distinction between a pure investment product like MF and an insurance product with equity exposure. This could also lead to mis-selling of ULIPs,” said Amfi.

“LTCG tax is not bringing in revenues that the government had envisaged. Meanwhile, it is creating a mental barrier for investors looking at MF products. It is cumbersome for investors calculating tax-liability on their realised gains,” added Jimmy Patel, chief executive officer of Quantum Asset Management.

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