All eyes will be on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley as he presents the Union Budget for the financial year 2016-17 on the floor of the Parliament on Monday. As expected, the common man will be looking ahead to some relief from the Budget, mostly in terms of taxation.
“Primarily, I expect that the income tax exemption limit is increased in this Budget. Some relief with respect to commodity prices and such is also expected. Government has initiated some basic reforms and I will like to see the impact they have. For the first time, the Budget has been drafted without any pressure, let us see what it has to offer,” stated Vivek Bhasin, a businessman from Harmu.
As for the business class of Jharkhand, it expects the Budget to bring about facilities and opportunities for establishing new industries in the state as well as rejuvenated the decrepit industrial units.
“After the Rail Budget remained mostly disappointing in context of Jharkhand, we expect that the General Budget will be more benefitting for the State. We expect that Budget will make provisions for special package to Jharkhand for forwarding the Make in India initiative in the State,” stated Pawan Kumar Sharma, president, Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
He further said, “We expect the Budget to make provisions for promoting industries and business in the extremism-hit parts of Jharkhand. Industries who signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with State Government will have to be provided with basic infrastructure and areas under the influence of Naxalism have to be secured for this purpose.”
“Simplification in taxation and increase in subsidies or rebate in usage charges for basic amenities are other announcements we expect to be made in this Budget. Concession in excise duties is also welcome in order to salvage industries on the brink of closing,” added Sharma.
Despite all the expectations, the experts are not very hopeful of the upcoming General Budget to relieve the common masses of their burdens. Ramesh Sharan, Head of Economics Department, stated, “By far, I do not see any signs of major relief in the Budget for the common man. Based on the Economic Survey, the focus will be on cutting fiscal deficit and reforming the subsidy framework. This means that there will be drastic decline in subsidies paid by the Government on lPG cylinders and fertilisers. It seems like subsidies on lPG connection to the higher income group will be completely curbed.”
He further added, “In a bid to save on salaries paid, Govt will refrain from increasing state-sponsored jobs. Considering reforms under the Make in India initiative, there might be some reason for corporate sector to rejoice, but there won’t be much for other sectors. We have been shielded from the implications of global economical turmoil because of our stock of our food-grains, but ignoring agricultural sector will endanger the stability we enjoy today.”
