Indian Economy News & Discussion - Nov 27 2017

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 01 Feb 2020 12:01

arshyam wrote:.. Focus on 100 water stressed districts coming to regenerate water resource..

Hopefully the govt prioritise this ie worst affected taken amongst earlier than later. Atleast the worst effected districts will have more time to thinking about it.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:06

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:12

Quotes from seals and hieroglypics found in the Saraswathi-Sindhu civilisation to showcase how important commerce and industry is to India.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:16

National Technical Textiles Mission proposed to cut down imports of technical textiles, which cost up to $16B per year.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:19

₹99,300 crores allocated to education.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:20

Scheme to encourage manufacturing in electronics, network devices, etc. proposed, details to be shared soon.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:22

National Logistics Policy to be released soon, to create a single window e-logistics cell and improve logistics.

2500km access controlled highways and 9000km economic corridors under implementation.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:25

Export Budget 2020 Latest Updates: A new scheme Nirvik will be offered for exporters. This will have lower premiums and a faster claims settlement. Refund to exporters the duties levied including electricity and VAT which have been not refunded. This will be launched this year itself, says FM. Each district will have to be developed as an export hub. The governments e-marketplace has a lot of opportunities for SMEs. A total allocation of Rs 27,300 crore for development of industry and commerce in FY21, says FM.

Source: MoneyControl live budget updates

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:26

₹1.7 lakh crore allocated to the transport sector overall.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:29

₹22000 crores to power and renewable energy sector.

Gas supply network to be increased from 16000km to 27000km.

1 lakh gram panchayats to be connected to BharatNet (FTTH) this year, and ₹6000 crores allocated to BharatNet expansion.

Data centre parks to be encouraged for better storage of data within the country.

Nikhil T · Post by **Nikhil T** » 01 Feb 2020 12:35

Interesting that the FM is not comparing allocations to that in previous year - for any initiative. That used to be the hallmark of previous speeches. Will be interesting to see which initiatives got more or less money.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:36

Two national science schemes to generate a genetic landscape map of the country.

₹35,600 crores for nutrition related programmes, specifically focused on women under the auspices of Beti bachao, beti padhao.

₹53000 crores for ST focussed schemes.
₹9000 crores for senior citizens.

Rakhigarhi, Hastinapur, Sivasagar, Dholavira and Adichanallur to be developed for tourists along with archeological museums. Also will set up a tribal museum in Jharkhand. Maritime museum to be set up at Lothal.

₹3150 crores allocated for Min of Culture, ₹2500 crores for Tourism sector.

₹4400 crores for improving air quality in cities.

₹3150 crores for Sanskrit ministry.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:48

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:56

Proposing a "tax-payers' statute" to make tax payer's experience better.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 12:58

Acknowledging a need to improve statistical systems used to track the economy.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:00

₹30757 crores for the UT of J&K.
₹5958 crores for the UT of Ladakh.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:02

₹3.5LC infused into banks over the past 3 years.

Increased deposit insurance from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakhs for each depositor.

Divesting govt stake in IDBI bank via the stock exchange.

Slew of measures for the MSME sector.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:10

MSME Budget 2020 Latest Updates: Subordinate debt for entrepreneurs of MSMEs will be provided and will be treated as quasi-equity, says FM. More than 5 lakh MSME benefited from debt restructuring last year. Government has asked RBI to consider extending window of debt structuring by one year to March 2021 for this purpose.

Source: MoneyControl live budget updates

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:14

IPO for LIC proposed.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:17

2020-21 nominal GDP growth estimated at 10%.

Receipts estimated at ₹22.46 lakh crores.
Expenditure pegged at ₹30.42 lakh crores.

Fiscal deficit target estimated at 3.8% for RE 2019-20, 3.5% for BE 2020-21.

Govt borrowing to go above ₹5 lakh crores for upcoming FY, but mostly going toward infrastructure and capital expenditure.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:27

Part 3, Direct tax:

Substantial reduction in tax revenues due to "unprecedented" reduction in corporate tax rates, but would pay off in the long term.

Quotes Kalidasa to say tax structure should be simple.

Personal income tax: New Income tax regime to be implemented, devoid of all exemptions.

New slabs announced, current rates in brackets:
0% for up to ₹5 lakh, no tax.
10% for ₹5-7.5 lakh (20%)
15% for ₹7.5 lakh-10lakh (20%)
20% for ₹10-12.5 lakh (30%)
25% for 12.5 lakh-15 lakh (30%)
30% for ₹15 lakh+ (30%)

₹78000 reduction for someone who earns ₹15 lakhs under the new regime, even after excluding section 80C deductions.

New regime is optional at this point.

₹40000 crores estimated foregone revenue.

Pre-filled IT forms to make the process even simpler.

100s of exemptions in the current tax code, have removed around 70 of them as of now, more to come over time.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:35

DDT abolished, dividends shall be taxed only at the hands of the recipients at the applicable rates.

Annual revenue forego of ₹25000 estimated.

Reduced Corporate income tax rates available to manufacturing units extended to power generation companies too.

Tax on ESOPs deferred for employees of start-ups for 5 years, or till they leave the company.

Nikhil T · Post by **Nikhil T** » 01 Feb 2020 13:45

Nihat wrote:
arshyam wrote:2020-21 nominal GDP growth estimated at 10%
This is hardly significant. For all we know the inflation can be 7% and growth being 3%

Sensex now down by almost 500 points.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:48

Housing loan: extending dates of affordable housing by one year.

Tax holiday for developers of affordable housing extended by one more year.

Faceless appeal process for income tax filers.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:50

Nikhil T wrote:
Nihat wrote:
This is hardly significant. For all we know the inflation can be 7% and growth being 3%
Sensex now down by almost 500 points.

Why? What's their expectation? Abolish taxes altogether?

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:54

Indirect taxes (GST):

Return pre-filling, SMS-based filing for nil returns.

Improvements proposed to refunds.

Aadhaar based verification of tax-payer units.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 13:55

Budget 2020 Latest Updates: FM Nirmala Sitharaman that key is to reduce litigation in direct taxes. A total of 4.83 direct tax cases pending in various forums. So a new direct tax dispute settlement under 'Vivad se Vishwaas Scheme'. No penalty will be charged if taxpayers pay by March 31, 2020.Here, only disputed tax amount has to be paid.

Source: MoneyControl live budget updates

Vamsee · Post by **Vamsee** » 01 Feb 2020 14:19

Saw on ET now that Defence got 3.23 lakh crores

Nikhil T · Post by **Nikhil T** » 01 Feb 2020 14:22

Vamsee wrote:Saw on ET now that Defence got 3.23 lakh crores

That’s just 5,000 crore increase - less than 1.5%. Inflation will eat up far more.

So the Modi era of low defence budgets continue. This is also the second year that defence allocation was not mentioned in the budget speech.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 14:54

It's ₹3.67 lakh crores, up by 6% (from TimesNow)

Per the India Budget website's Budget Highlights document, total allocation to the MoD is ₹4,71,378 crore.

The previous year's budget highlight document says Defence expenditure was ₹3,05,296 crore. Not sure if these two numbers are directly comparable, given the huge difference between them.

EDITed with updated data from the official site.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 01 Feb 2020 15:17

Reducing personal tax on income v.welcome,but the std. deductions in the previous scales have been abolished.So one hand gives and the other takes away.Could've been better onthis xcore but I give a clear thumbs upcon this one.

Raising insurance on deposits.V.v.welcome.It could've been 10 lakhs though togenerate confidrnce in the banking system.Depositors will bd fofced to have mkltiple accts. with various banks adding to paperwork, KYC,etc.,an absolute pain.

The main factor,the dragon in the room, the $60+B trade deficit with China has not been touched at all.MSMEs which have collapsed tx. to cheap Chin imports, will be most wary at restarting and reinvest in the same style without protection from Chin goods.Sanctions and outright bans required, otherwise matters will further deteriorare.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 01 Feb 2020 15:21

Dug a little deeper and this is what I found from the expenditure budget docs for 2020-21:

All numbers are in crore, 2019-20 RE in ():

Pensions: ₹1,33,825 (₹1,17,810)
Revenue: ₹2,09,319 (₹2,05,901)
Capital: ₹1,13,734 (₹1,10,394)
Civil: ₹14,500 (₹14,713)

Total: ₹4,71,378 (₹4,48,818)

Per these numbers, the increase is 5% only, in which the capital expenditure outlay has increased by 3.02%.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 01 Feb 2020 15:23

Nikhil T wrote:
Nihat wrote:
This is hardly significant. For all we know the inflation can be 7% and growth being 3%
Sensex now down by almost 500 points.

It has less to do with the budget, and more to do with what happened in the last 48 hrs.

WHO labeled the coronavirus a global health emergency

Trump declared it a public health emergency, ordered quarantine for citizens returning from China.

Delta & American Airlines are stopping flights to China.

Dow Jones tumbled 600 Points. (Despite great reported earning of tech stocks).

US Treasury yield curve inverted again.

Oil drops more than 2%.

Hong Kong stocks tumbled more than 3%.

Apple closing all stores in mainland China.

tandav · Post by **tandav** » 01 Feb 2020 15:23

Any news about GST collection improvement, GST invoices to be raised online?

There has to be a national work order/purchase order registry system also... this will give legal basis for invoicing clients and reveal which companies are issuing WO to which parties

Mukesh.Kumar · Post by **Mukesh.Kumar** » 01 Feb 2020 17:10

There seems to be a move to tax NRI's in the latest budget.

Govt. proposes tax for NRIs

Didn't see that one coming

Zynda · Post by **Zynda** » 01 Feb 2020 17:54

Is the budget that bad considering market has tanked massively?

Closing Bell: Markets bleed as budget disappoints; Sensex nosedives nearly 1000 points; Nifty below 11,650

Indian markets lost over 2.5 percent on Saturday after the Budget failed to please investors. Rise in custom duty in most sectors, only marginal relief for Income Tax payers, and less than estimated rise in infra spending in the budget were among the major reason for the sharp sell-off.

"The budget is below the par considering that the market had very high expectations from the government with support to the economy and more spending which is lacking in the details. Adding flexibility to fiscal deficit of FY20 is positive but extending the same to FY21 would have provided more confidence to the market. In a normal scenario this budget would have been considered as good providing tax benefit to the common man, corporates and focus on farmers’ incomes, but the situation required more," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

If the budget is really bad, then any idea why GoI/NS chose such a one?

Bart S · Post by **Bart S** » 01 Feb 2020 18:17

Zynda wrote:Is the budget that bad considering market has tanked massively?

Closing Bell: Markets bleed as budget disappoints; Sensex nosedives nearly 1000 points; Nifty below 11,650
Indian markets lost over 2.5 percent on Saturday after the Budget failed to please investors. Rise in custom duty in most sectors, only marginal relief for Income Tax payers, and less than estimated rise in infra spending in the budget were among the major reason for the sharp sell-off.

"The budget is below the par considering that the market had very high expectations from the government with support to the economy and more spending which is lacking in the details. Adding flexibility to fiscal deficit of FY20 is positive but extending the same to FY21 would have provided more confidence to the market. In a normal scenario this budget would have been considered as good providing tax benefit to the common man, corporates and focus on farmers’ incomes, but the situation required more," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
If the budget is really bad, then any idea why GoI/NS chose such a one?

Yes, it was pretty poor, especially after the hopes raised by the economic survey document (which was pretty good; but clearly mostly fantasizing about stuff that they had no intention to implement right now). People were expecting significant changes and reform, whereas the budget only changed some superficial stuff.

Bart S · Post by **Bart S** » 01 Feb 2020 18:25

arshyam wrote: New slabs announced, current rates in brackets:
0% for up to ₹5 lakh, no tax.
10% for ₹5-7.5 lakh (20%)
15% for ₹7.5 lakh-10lakh (20%)
20% for ₹10-12.5 lakh (30%)
25% for 12.5 lakh-15 lakh (30%)
30% for ₹15 lakh+ (30%)[/b]

₹78000 reduction for someone who earns ₹15 lakhs under the new regime, even after excluding section 80C deductions.

"Even after excluding section 80C" is cleverly worded. What about 2l deduction on housing loan interest, plus medical insurance etc which also needs to be given up.

There is a marginal improvement perhaps for younger people with lower incomes and no investments in tax saving ELSS/SIP, no housing loan and no personal mediclaim etc.

For typical family people who have a housing loan, avail of insurance and invest in retirement funds they straight away need to forego 3.75 lakh worth of deductions just to avail of the marginally lower slabs so its not going to give any savings.

Bottom line is that people need to assess their own income come and investment/outflow structure and decide if there are any benefits to them. Also, despite the claims of simplifying direct tax, it makes tax structure more complex rather than simplifying it, unless you look at those who give up exemptions in isolation, and are probably a minority among middle class.

Vips · Post by **Vips** » 01 Feb 2020 19:14

No Big Bang modernization for the armed forces in the defence budget.

The defence outlay this year is Rs 3.37 lakh crore, which does not amount to even a 2% hike over the revised estimates of the last fiscal.(The budget allocation has shrunk and is actually negative if you factor in the inflation)

Nihat · Post by **Nihat** » 01 Feb 2020 19:30

Seems a quite unimaginative budget to me. Even the tax cuts are only going to benefit a very small section and overall it's quite reactionary on nature. Mentioning a nominal growth target is just trying to pull a fast one on the public.