Amid immense criticism regarding the economic slowdown, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented her second budget in Lok Sabha. Crores of middle-class people and industrial sector have been eagerly waiting for the minister to announce revival measures.
Much to the relief of the middle-class, Nirmala announced various Income Tax rate cuts for earnings from Rs 5 lakh up to Rs 15 lakh, while no tax will be applied on earnings up to Rs 2.5 lakh. In a historic move, the corporate sector tax has been slashed by 15%, making India the lowest collector of corporate tax in the world.
Nirmala’s budget also strived to ensure focus on welfare and development of all sections, with a special attention to farmers by offering huge state funding to the farm sector.
The fiscal deficit target has been revised to 3.8% for the 2020-21 fiscal year. The minister assured that there will be a considerable increase up to 10% in the GDP in the new fiscal year. Adding strength to the country’s infrastructure, Nirmala announced the construction of 100 airports in 4 years and various hi-speed railway projects.
The minister said that India is the 5th amongst the most powerful economies in the world. She assured the countrymen that India will surely reach the $5 trillion target by 2025.
Meanwhile, as expected, the opposition leaders have expressed severe displeasure on Nirmala’s budget. Rahul Gandhi has termed it ‘disappointing’ and a repetition of the old budget with a new coating. And Markets are deeply disappointed by budget, where Sensex down by 2.5 %.
