Today's Big StoriesFM Nirmala Sitharaman to announce her first Budget today, here's what to expect
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce her first budget today, that will present a roadmap for Modi government’s second term.
Budget 2019 comes at a crucial juncture for the government, which has been consistently racked by concerns around unemployment and sluggish GDP growth.Follow the live updates here.What to expect: The FM is expected to lower corporate taxes for small and medium-sized businesses and personal ones towards reviving consumption by the middle classes.
The Budget 2019 might come as a relief to the common man in particular as Sitharaman is likely to raise the income tax threshold for certain categories.
A boost in spending across sectors, including agriculture, healthcare and social sectors is also expected, which will come at the cost of short-term fiscal deficit targets.
Some analysts, however, believe that the less-than-ideal state of the economy might compel the government to stick to earnings, expenditures and investments it had put in the Interim Budget.
Here are some other major demands the Budget is likely to address from across sectors.Economic Survey indicates: The Economic Survey that was released yesterday ticked all the right boxes in exhorting industry to come forward with investments to boost growth, debunking the correlation between increasing investments and job destruction, and explaining why the small and medium enterprises are erroneously thought to be mega job creators.
It also forecasts that the Indian economy will grow at 7% this fiscal, which would be an improvement over the 6.8% growth rate clocked in 2018-19.Ravi Shankar Prasad moves Aadhar Amendment Bill, faces strong opposition
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