Budget 2023 Expectations Highlights: All-party meeting to be held at Monday noon

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60% households expect dip in earning, seek relief in Budget: Survey

More than half of households in a survey conducted online across 309 districts expect a decline in their income by up to 25 percent and dip in savings, and are looking for relief in the coming budget, online platform LocalCircles said on Sunday. The survey, conducted between November 25 and January 25, found that with job losses and hiring sentiment turning negative, 52 per cent respondents feel that the economic uncertainty will persist for the next 6-12 months. LocalCircles claimed that 37,000 responses were received from household consumers across 309 districts of India, comprising 64 per cent men, 36 per cent women from tier 1, tier 2 and smaller towns as well. "Our survey indicates that majority households in the country are facing the squeeze and in community discussions thousands of inputs were received by LocalCircles about lowering income tax rates or increasing deductions and exemptions," LocalCircles founder Sachin Taparia said.

Meeting of NDA floor leaders on Monday afternoon

On Monday afternoon, a meeting of NDA floor leaders will also be held to strategise floor cooperation.

All-party meeting on Monday ahead of Budget 2023

An all party meeting would be held on Monday noon ahead of the upcoming Union Budget session. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi would chair the meeting. 

Centre should hike assistance under PM-KISAN, give tax sops for agritech startups, say industry experts 

In the upcoming Budget, the government should enhance cash assistance given to farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme from the current Rs 6,000 per year for purchase of crop inputs, provide tax incentives to agritech startups and cut import duties on agrochemicals, according to industry experts. There is also need to announce some incentives to farmers as well as agrictech startups for faster adoption of technologies, like artificial intelligence, precision farming and drones, in Indian agriculture sector, they added. Edible oil industry body SEA has demanded that a national mission should be launched to increase oilseeds production and reduce imports of cooking oils. "There is urgent need to launch the 'National Mission on Edible Oils' with adequate financial support to boost the oilseeds production," Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) President Ajay Jhunjhunwala said.

Expect emphasis on data security to increase upcoming Budget, Zaggle CEO

"The Union Budget 2023-24 has assumed critical importance because it comes at a time when India needs to cement its place as an outlier in the global economy. One way to achieve that is to promote digital payments and encourage companies to adopt digital transactions across the economic diaspora. The adaptation of technology integrated services in B2B transactions will not only bring ease in doing business but will also reduce costs and increase financial independency. The government must encourage investments in automation in spend management to enable cross audits and ensure suitable and high compliance with corporate spend regulations. We also expect the emphasis on data security to increase in the upcoming Budget, and the government should announce measures to increase digital vigilance and safety," said Avinash Ramesh Godkhindi, Managing Director and CEO, Zaggle.

Expect government to introduce tax incentives for the use of new-age technology applications, says SahiBandhu co-founder

"The development of new-age businesses and India’s fast-evolving startup ecosystem are left in great anticipation for the new Budget 2023. Most urgently, we expect the Indian government to introduce tax incentives for the use of new age technology applications like IoT, AI, ML and others to help accelerate the wave of digitalisation prevalent across industries. While we expect direct tax benefits to borrowers of personal loans, indirect tax benefits could be levied for the fintech sector in the form of more ease in doing business. This could help fintech companies transfer these benefits to the end users," said Virendra Yaduvanshi, Co-Founder & CTO at SahiBandhu. 

'Anticipate some relaxed tax regulations and liquidity assistance for NBFCs'

"In the 2023 budget, while we anticipate a strong mandate for lending NBFCs working to empower underserved small and medium businesses through financial and technological interventions. Furthermore, we anticipate some relaxed tax regulations and liquidity assistance for NBFCs. Over time, the RBI has tightened the NBFC regulatory framework, particularly for large and deposit-taking NBFCs, and brought it more in line with bank regulations. However, tax laws have not kept up, and as a result, NBFCs face higher tax costs or compliance burdens than banks in several areas," said Parry Singh, Founder and CEO at Red Fort Capital.

Budget expected to be a tightrope walk due to macro stress, elections: Finnovate

Nehal Mota, Co-Founder & CEO at Finnovate said, "Expectations include parity in treatment between mutual funds and unit linked insurance plans (ULIPs), enhancement of upper limit for Public provident funds (PPF) to Rs 3 lakhs, rationalization of tax provisions and more exemptions under Section 80C. The budget is also expected to reintroduce Section 54E and 54F for reinvesting capital gains in mutual funds. However, the budget is expected to be a tightrope walk due to macro stress, nine state elections in 2023 and central elections in 2024 and limited room for maneuver due to higher capex outlays and fiscal deficit at 6.4 percent of GDP."

Govt must re-evaluate Section 80 C restrictions: GoalTeller

"There may be electoral pressures on the administration to provide a populist budget when the budget, which in this case is the year before the election, approaches. In this regard, the wealth technology community would be extremely pleased if the current Direct Tax arrangements were at the very least maintained without worsening the state of the public finances. From a practical standpoint, the government must reevaluate Section 80 C restrictions, and it would be nice if they could be raised to account for inflation so that the numbers remain accurate. We anticipated that the focus on Account Aggregator and other digital projects would remain the same on the regulation front," said Vivek Banka, Founding Team, GoalTeller.

Budget 2023 should focus on middle class and boosting consumption: Lovak Capital

 

Jyoti Bhandari, Founder and CEO at Lovak Capital said that the focus of Budget 2023 should be on middle class and boosting consumption.

"Salaried class is expecting for exemptions in tax slabs and increasing their take home income by increasing the minimum tax slab from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, increasing school's fee slab for exemption, increasing limits for 80C, health care incentives for lower salaried people and monetary policy measures to boost savings. Government's focus is on managing macroeconomic stability and moderate monetary policy to control inflation and boost growth," she said.

Market outlook | Union Budget, US Fed rate decision key events this week

For equity investors, the Union Budget for 2023-24 and the US Fed's interest rate decision will be the major events to watch out for this week, analysts said. The ongoing earnings season, global market cues, domestic macroeconomic data announcements and auto sales numbers would also influence trading in the market, they added.

PM Modi chairs meeting of Council of Ministers ahead of Budget

Ahead of the Union Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers here. The Union Budget, which will be presented in Parliament on February 1, will be the last full-fledged budget of the Modi government before the 2024 general elections. The meeting, the first to be held for the Union Council of Ministers in 2023, started around 10 am and is expected to conclude in the evening. Sources said working of several ministries and policy initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi government will be reviewed and discussed.

 Lending to micro enterprises by NBFCs and banks should be encouraged: Aye Finance

Sanjay Sharma, MD and CEO at Aye Finance said that lending to micro enterprises by NBFCs and banks should be encouraged.

"Just as bank's have to meet a specific priority lending quota for agri, there should now be a specified quota for micro enterprises in the priority lending. The government should allow subsidies for private sector programs that can deliver technology and product improvement by such micro enterprises at scale.Health and critical illness covers at affordable premiums for micro enterprise owners and their family- so that their businesses may be protected from these adverse events," he said.