The biggest takeaways from the Union Budget 2023 were deductions in income tax slabs under the new regime for the middle class, increase in capital expenditure and more benefits in the senior citizen scheme and the new savings plan for women. However, half of those surveyed say the government should have brought more reforms in health and environment.
According to a survey by LocalCircles, 50% citizens said the government should have done more on the healthcare front. In the 2023 budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an estimated outlay of Rs 89,155 crore as against revised Rs 79,145 crore for the current fiscal. In effect, from 2.2% of the budget spending in the current fiscal, it has been reduced to 1.97% in the new budget.
For the middle class, the government announced extending rebate limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh under the new tax regime. For pensioners, the FM announced increasing the benefit of standard deduction.
When asked how do they rate the budget, nearly 41% respondents called it “excellent” while 18% rated it between 4 and 5. Therefore, the average rating for the budget on a scale of 5 was 3.48.
Whether people see any key benefits in the 2023 Budget, around 49% expressed optimism that it will create “new infrastructure” while 33% said it will boost household spending, employment and livelihood.
On areas where the budget felt short, 39% respondents said they are not happy that the tax exemptions and deductions were not increased while 35% said the allocation for safeguarding environment, especially against pollution, was not adequate. Around 22% think more could have been done in education while 20% indicated other areas for improvement.
The survey received over 50,000 responses from citizens located in 337 districts of India. 64% respondents were men while 36% respondents were women. 46% respondents were from tier 1, 35% from tier 2 and 19% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.
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