[CA] Election Budget

Standing in for an ailing Mr. Arun Jaitley, finance minister Mr. Piyush Goyal presented the interim Budget that was a thinly-disguised ‘election-year’ offering to the country, with every segment of the NDA’s prospective votebank being served – generously, and in some cases boldly – with sops. The Budget had benefits for middle and lower income group families; farmers and labourers; the salaried and the senior; women and children; the Armed forces; MSMEs and everyone else the NDA may count on to bring it back to power in May.

The biggest largesse, too, came as no surprise, with a doubling of the Income tax exemption limit for salaried employees to Rs.5 lakh; the announcement of an annual income support of Rs.6,000 for small farmers; and contributory pension for labourers in the unorganised sector. In his 100-minute speech, Mr. Goyal also announced raising the Standard Deduction for the salaried class and pensioners from Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000 and proposed exemption from tax on notional rent on second self-occupied homes. In a big relief to pensioners and senior citizens, he also raised the threshold for TDS on interest received on bank deposits from Rs.10,000 to Rs.40,000, and TDS on rent from Rs.180,000 to Rs.240,000.