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00:00But A. Bala is joining us now.
00:02Vadithya Birla, Sun Life, AMC.
00:04Bala, welcome to the conversation.
00:06And we spoke about so many things pre-budget.
00:08We have the announcements now.
00:10Let's start with your first take.
00:14A pretty decent budget,
00:16clearly addressing
00:18the various needs of the country,
00:20whether it is employment, skill development,
00:22rural economy, giving a boost
00:24to the SME sectors,
00:26and access to the finance through the expanding
00:28SIDBI into every part of the country
00:30to ensure that money is now
00:32actually going closer to the people
00:34who would be in need of funds.
00:36And last, of course, is the
00:38income tax, the change
00:40that they brought in terms of slabs,
00:42which is, of course, putting slabs,
00:44which is basically
00:46giving more money in the hands of people.
00:48At the same time, above Rs. 15 lakhs,
00:50now 30% plus surcharge.
00:52A lot of money in the hands of people,
00:54which again, essentially,
00:56is towards boosting the consumption.
00:58And capital gain tax change, of course,
01:00given the fact a lot of wealth
01:02has been created, a lot of money has been made,
01:04people are deeply in money
01:06the last few years,
01:08the 2.5% increase in capital gain tax
01:10may not be actually significantly
01:12denting the investors' sentiment,
01:14given the fact that you have to
01:16pay this only upon
01:18the selling, and second is
01:20it all depends upon
01:22if you hold it for five years, 2% per annum
01:24is not a significantly higher amount
01:26for somebody to get worried about it.
01:28Clearly, I think it's a growth-oriented budget.
01:30And second is,
01:32it's an action-oriented budget
01:34with a clear allocation
01:36that is being kept aside for every segment
01:38of the activities. And last, of course,
01:40least is, despite
01:42all these allocations that are increasing
01:44towards the two states
01:46where most people are thinking there will be a populist budget,
01:48and each of these spending allocations
01:50has come to these two states, whether it's Andhra Pradesh
01:52or Bihar.
01:54It is linked to the industrial activities,
01:56the pickup and special focus on
01:58tourism, increasing
02:00the pilgrimage activities
02:02in these centres. All of them actually
02:04are more with the intention to
02:06increase the contribution from these states
02:08further to the economic growth.
02:10Therefore, I call it as a
02:12growth-oriented budget.
02:14And what is also interesting
02:16is the fiscal deficit,
02:18they have maintained it, and also given
02:20that even next year,
02:22they're showing the confidence of maintaining about 4.5%,
02:24which essentially means
02:26one, growth will continue
02:28to be the driver, and tax collection
02:30improvement will continue to be the driver.
02:32At the same time, ensure
02:34the overall
02:36numbers adds up
02:38to ensure that the fiscal deficit is also maintained.
02:40And last but not the least,
02:42given where we are currently going to be with the balance of payments
02:44that they're running, giving a
02:46specific focus on export
02:48sectors, whether it is diamond
02:50or jewellery,
02:52or even the
02:54textile sectors,
02:56that's something which has been one of the
02:58expectations from people that
03:00export sectors should give some kind of booster
03:02through the series of
03:04basic custom duty changes
03:06that they have brought in. I think clearly
03:08they have brought in some kind of focus on export sectors
03:10indirectly through
03:12various changes that they brought in on the
03:14custom duty. That's why I feel it as a
03:16good budget and overall perspectives
03:18probably I would say
03:209 out of 10 in the overall ranking.