#Periscope LIVE: Finance Minister @arunjaitley’s post - #Budget2017 press conferencehttps://t.co/ASbtRTSdF1
— BloombergQuint (@BloombergQuint) February 1, 2017
.@HomeLoansByHDFC's Keki Mistry: #Budget2017 moves to even out the tax burden.
— BloombergQuint (@BloombergQuint) February 1, 2017
Live updates: https://t.co/QugmWBWiRv pic.twitter.com/O6SiyuDuYg
U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, which many see as isolationist, played out an important factor while working out the polices of this year’s budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Sanjay Pugalia, Editorial Director of The Quint.
With inputs from PTI
Comments by William Foster, Vice President, Sovereign Risk Group, Moody’s Investors Service.
- Fertilizer subsidy for FY18 pegged at Rs 70,000 crore
- Petroleum subsidy for FY18 pegged at Rs 25,000 crore
- Food subsidy pegged at Rs 1,45,000 crore
- Other subsidies pegged at Rs 1,26,000 crore
All sectoral gauges on the BSE advanced, barring the technology and healthcare indices.
- FY17 budget deficit at 3.5 percent of GDP
- FY17 revenue deficit at 2 percent of GDP
- FY18 divestment target set at Rs 72,500 crore
- FY18 gross market borrowing set at Rs 6.05 lakh crore
- FY18 direct taxes revenue growth projected at 15.3 percent
- FY18 indirect tax revenue growth projected at 8.8 percent
Post the government's demonetisation drive, the finance minister proceeded to soothe the middle-class by slashing tax rates for income between Rs 2.5-5 lakh by half. The rationale behind this was to ensure more people come into the tax net, he said.
- Proposal to cut tax rate to 5 percent for individuals with income between Rs 2.5-5 lakh.
- Surcharge of 10 percent on income between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore
- Surcharge of 15 percent on income over Rs 1 crore to continue
thanks FM @arunjaitley for first steps to clean up political funding. #Budget2017 please bring political parties under RTI now.
— Ajit Ranade (@ajit_ranade) February 1, 2017
Railway stocks mixed despite higher capital outlay for Railway at Rs 1,31,000 crore versus Rs 1,21,000 crore
Defense expenditure excluding pensions has been pegged at Rs 2.75 lakh crore, said Jaitley. Last year, India allocated Rs 2.49 lakh crore for defense in the 2016-17 budget; 2.46 lakh crore the previous year.
#FIPB will be abolished! wow! landmark reform! #Budget2017
— Ajit Ranade (@ajit_ranade) February 1, 2017
(now, tweet your old stories of FIPB induced heartburn and delays!)
Other announcements
- Planned another ETF issue in FY18
- Plan to have an intergrated public sector oil major.
- Will also introduce Aadhar-based payment methods.
Jaitley said the government plans to amend rules governing drugs and cosmetics to lower prices and encourage use of generic products.
The focus on investment in infrastructure was expected and in line with previous policy direction. An infrastructure gap in India has likely hampered growth and contributed to economic volatility. Higher government spending in that area may partly address the infrastructure constraints.William Foster, Vice President, Sovereign Risk Group, Moody’s Investors Service.
#Budget2017 Finance Minister @arunjaitley on #Railways
— BloombergQuint (@BloombergQuint) February 1, 2017
Live on #Periscope: https://t.co/axRpftjwER pic.twitter.com/CJLkvej8Oq
Budget Impact: Positive for infrastructure companies like MEP Infra IRB Infra, Sadbhav Infra, KNR (stocks gain anywhere between 1.5 percent to 2 percent)
Jaitley increases allocation to rural employment scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (or, MGNREGA) to Rs 48,000 crore.
- Participation of women in MGNREGA has increased to 55 percent in FY17
“The pace of remonetisation has picked up and has reached comfortable levels. The impact of demonetisation will not spill over into the next year,” he said.
Jaitley highlights challenges to emerging market economies:
- Fed policy can lead to capital outflows from the EM
- Rising commodity prices can impact fiscal situation of Emerging economies
- Signs of increasing protectionism in many parts of the world. This can hamper exports in many emerging economies including India.
The government will continue to undertake more steps to ensure the poor and other vulnerable sections of society will benefit.”Arun Jaitley Finance Minister
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present his fourth Union Budget shortly. Just a while back, a cabinet meeting to discuss the budget ended.
Lawmakers observe a moment of silence before the budget speech starts to honour a member of parliament who died early this morning. However, soon after ruckus begins as opposition demanded the house to be adjourned.
Both the Sensex and the Nifty maintain minor gains led by shares of automakers, lenders and capital goods companies.
Watch me live presenting the Union Budget 2017 at 11 am, February 1, 2017 https://t.co/BtQAlBf8Zz
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 1, 2017
For more details on Maruti’s sales numbers, click HERE
#Budget2017: FM @arunjaitley reaches Parliament, cabinet meeting in a short while from now. pic.twitter.com/exiEKvwwYM
— Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) February 1, 2017
Stocks Radar: ICICI Bank, ONGC, InterGlobe Aviation And More
Catch the full interview transcript right HERE
Neeraj Gambhir, head of fixed income, Nomura India said a fiscal deficit number above 3.20-3.25 percent will be a negative surprise for the market. He expected government borrowing – state and centre combined – at Rs 7.8 lakh crore.
Nomura Says
- Don’t see much room for reduction in the policy rates
- The longer end of the government bond yields could steepen
- Banks have room to reduce interest rates further given liquidity
- Don’t expect the RBI policy rates to go below 6 percent atleast for now
- Expect bond yields to move towards 6.50 percent rather than to 6.0 percent
- Expect outperformance of rupee to continue
- Rupee needs to weaken to make exports more competitive
- Indian bonds still remain reasonably attractive
- Indian bond returns in 2017 won’t match those seen in last two years
Stocks To Watch: ICICI Bank, ONGC, Eicher Motors, Maruti And More
#BQMarketsNow | Dollar drops, gold gains as U.S. stocks end lower; Asia opens weak. https://t.co/CJq2EVBoe2 pic.twitter.com/aMyXtEPRjP
— BloombergQuint (@BloombergQuint) February 1, 2017
The Union Budget is always a big event for the market. Data for the last eight years suggests Nifty’s performance leading up to the budget, on most occasions, follows a similar trend.
In seven out of the last eight years, the blue-chip index remained subdued before the budget and gained momentum after it was tabled. Only in 2015 the index performed better before the budget than in the month that followed. That year, the index also ended with losses, the second time since 2009.
The Nifty had also posted losses in 2011, mostly in the second half of the year, because of the Euro zone debt crisis.
How will the markets react this year? Let’s wait and watch.
The costs include a contraction in cash money supply and subsequent, albeit temporary, slowdown in GDP growth; and benefits include increased digitalisation, greater tax compliance and a reduction in real estate prices, which could increase long-run tax revenue collections and GDP growth.Economic Survey
Read the full article here.
For a complete report on the real estate sector’s budget wish list, click here.
To know more about the auto industry’s budget wishlist, click here.
To know more about the cement industry’s budget wishlist, click here.
A safety fund of Rs 20,000 crore for railways reeling under a series of deadly derailments, development of new lines, station redevelopment and setting up of Rail Development Authority and High Speed Rail Authority will be in focus.
Jaitley is likely to give more focus on infrastructure development such as new lines, doubling, station redevelopment, and safety upgradation.
Reeling under a series of derailments, the Budget is likely to announce creation of a separate safety fund of about Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years out of which Rs 20,000 crore will be earmarked for 2017-18, according to a report by wire agency PTI.
A Twitter poll conducted by the finance ministry shows that a majority of citizens on on the micro-blogging site want the upcoming Union Budget to focus on sops for the farmer sector and more job creation in small and medium industries (SMEs).
Also Read: Will A 3% Fiscal Deficit Remain Elusive?
Hello and welcome to BloombergQuint's coverage of the Union Budget 2017.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the fourth Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, which many see as its last chance at making big bang announcement.
This budget is historic in many ways. Bucking the usual trend of the budget being presented on the last day of February, the event has been advanced by a month. This has been done to help complete the legislative process for approval of annual spending plans and tax proposals before beginning of the new financial year on April 1.
This budget also marks the end of the 92-year old history of presenting a separate budget document for the Indian Railways. The income and expenditure figures of India's biggest employer will be subsumed into the Union budget itself.
Indian equities have recouped most of their post-demonetisation losses, anticipating that the Modi government will step up spending on critical areas like infrastructure. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration may have prepared India’s $300 billion budget in the dark.
"If the budget has to be tabled by February 1, the papers will have to go for printing by January 20. This would indicate that they won’t get any more data," said Pronab Sen, who was India’s national statistician until 2010 told Bloomberg.
The Statistics Office correctly used available data to offer an estimate of what the economy would look like without demonetisation, and left the finance ministry to fill in the blanks, he said. "How much they will shave off? No one can guess.”
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