Mercedes-Benz hopes govt measures will help sales revive in H2 of 2019

The country’s largest luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz India hopes the measures announced by the government will bring about a pick-up in sales in the second half of calendar 2019.

“The (Friday) announcement of the Finance minister will definitely help change the mood a little bit. It will improve financial liquidity in the market. It will also create some confidence of the customers and that goes across the industry,” said Martin Schwenk, managing director and chief executive officer, Mercedes-Benz India.

“I think it isn’t the car industry only, (but) also the construction industry which needs some amount of positive momentum. I am personally thinking that now in the second half (of the year) you will see some of it. How fast and how quick we will see the growth coming back we don’t know. I am quite confident that the second half of the year, which is a festive season, could see the business picking up,” Schwenk added. Read Complete Article

Budget 2019: 7 ministries, depts yet to earmark funds for tribal schemes

Seven central ministries and departments have not earmarked funds for tribal welfare schemes in their budget for 2019-20 and 12 have “kept the provision below the level stipulated by the Niti Aayog”, officials said Wednesday. Union Budget 2019

In 2017, the Niti Aayog developed new guidelines obligating 41 central ministries and departments to earmark funds for “Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes” (DAPST), earlier known as Tribal Sub-Plan.

An official said the guidelines were finalized in January 2019, which means complete adherence cannot be ensured this financial year.

“Since the ministries decide their allocations for various schemes by November-December and the guidelines were finalised in January, any corrective action is possible next year only,” the official said.

The guidelines state that the 41 identified ministries and departments have to earmark at least 4.3 per cent funds for DAPST.

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India likely to let budget deficit rise as tax receipts fall short

The government is likely to overshoot the budget deficit target previously set for the current fiscal year, three officials have warned, as a slowing economy creates a big shortfall in tax collections and prompts new stimulus plans. Budget 2019

New Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents her first budget on July 5, for the fiscal year ending March 2020. It is also the first budget of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term after his government was returned in a landslide election win last month.

Since becoming prime minister in 2014, Modi succeeded in improving public finances, trimming the fiscal deficit to 3.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 4.5% in 2013/14, mostly through subsidies cuts and fuel taxes.

He is now, however, under pressure to loosen the purse strings to follow through on election promises such as increased spending on roads and housing and tax cuts for companies and individuals.

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Govt may raise income-tax threshold in Budget to revive economy

The Centre is considering increasing the personal income taxthreshold in next month’s budget, according to people familiar with the matter, as authorities seek to kickstart consumption in the economy.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may raise the tax exemption limit for working-age individuals to Rs 300,000 ($4,316) of their annual income, up from the current Rs 250,000, the people said, asking not to be identified as they aren’t authorised to speak publicly about the proposals. The tax measures haven’t been finalised yet. Any tax exemptions will add stimulus to an economy that’s slowed sharply this year, with growth reaching a five-year low of 5.8 per cent in the first three months of the year.

The proposed tax move would put at least Rs 2,500 more in the hands of each of India’s 50 million taxpayers. It could also add to pressure on the budget deficit, which is pegged at 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product for the current fiscal year that began on April 1.

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Nirmala Sitharaman second woman Finance Minister after Indira Gandhi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday surprised markets by naming Nirmala Sitharaman, formerly the country’s defence minister, as the next finance minister at a time when Asia’s third-largest economy is stuttering.

Sitharaman, 59, will become the senior most woman minister in Modi’s cabinet and the second woman to head the finance department after late former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Amit Shah, chief of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was appointed as the minister of home affairs, giving him responsibility for internal security with a control over the federal police.

Regarded as the architect of Modi’s landslide victory in the recently concluded general election, Shah replaces senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who will now be defence minister.

Shah had been tipped as a possible candidate for the finance ministry in recent days, but the job went to Sitharaman, who has an economics background and was briefly the junior finance minister in Modi’s first term.

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