Budget 2018: Govt to borrow Rs 200 billion more in FY18, says Subhash Garg

The government will reduce its additional borrowing to Rs 200 billion from the bond markets in the financial year 2017-18, from Rs 500 billion announced last month, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg said.

This is primarily because the Reserve Bank of India will pay a higher-than-anticipated surplus to the Centre, and the dividend target from state-owned companies will also be met, senior government sources confirmed separately to Business Standard.

While disinvestment target for the year is expected to overshoot the budgeted estimates by quite a margin, things seem to be looking up on the direct taxes front as well. There are still expectations of a shortfall in goods and service tax and spectrum sales.

“Government has reassessed additional borrowing requirements taking note of revenue receipts and read more

Budget 2018: Full text of all Budget speeches delivered since Independence

On February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Budget 2018, his fifth and the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s final full Budget in the ongoing term.Budget 2018-19 will also be important in many respects because India has just had a fiscally difficult year and might need its finance minister to put things in order through a tight leash on the economy.

However, there are also some who say that Jaitley might be impelled to dole out freebies in Union Budget2018, in spite of the fisc, out of political compulsions – to shore up popular support for the ruling coalition going into the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

ALSO READ: Budget 2018 needn’t be populist
Whether Union Budget 2018-19 will be a fiscally prudent Budget or a populist one? A clearer picture on this will emerge only on Union Budget 2018 date February 1, with FM Arun Jaitley speech on Budget2018. As of now, Budget 2018 expectations have been pouring in from various stakeholders of the read more

Budget 2018: Know your savings if FM Jaitley changes tax exemption limit

There have been reports that Budget 2018 could bring a huge relief for the middle class, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley increasing the personal tax exemption limit and tweaking tax slabs. This is the last full Budget of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) govt in its present term.

The finance inistry has received proposals that the tax exemption limit should be increased to at least Rs 300,000 per year, if not Rs 500,000, from the existing Rs 250,000.

A tinkering of the tax slab, should that happen, would also give a substantial relief to the middle-income group, especially the salaried class, which has been hit by the impact of retail inflation lately.

Business Standard takes a look at the likely scenarios of a change in the personal income tax exemption limit and read more