India budget 2014-15

1. India Finance Budget 2014-15--- My Expectation
In February 2014 then Finance Minister Mr P. Chidambaram presented interim budget
for financial year 2014-15 with total budgeted expenditure of Rs. 17,63,214 crore, an
increase of Rs. 1,72,780 Crore, a 10 percent increase over the revised estimate of
2013-14. Fiscal deficit was projected at Rs. 5,28,634 Crore which was 30 percentage
of total expenditure. It is interesting to see how much additional expenditure will be
planned by new finance minister and how he is going bridge the gap of deficit, so that
he can bring “Ashchc Din”.
“Ashchc Din” will come only if finance minister can raise additional resources or reduce
expenditure on subsidies and freebees. Secondly additional revenue can be generated
by way of widening the tax base and by encouraging more people to pay tax by
reducing tax rates.
To give relief to tax payers, there is a need to increase the exemption limits, this will
give more money in the hands of people to save, spend and invest. Additional money in
hands will encouraged to save and invest which can spur capital market and can result
in revival of capital market which will result in creation of additional employment and will
provide additional revenues in terms of direct and indirect taxes.
To be specific I have some items on my wish list
1. Basic exemption limit need to be increased to at least Rs. 3, 00,000 from present
Rs. 2,00,000. Recently I read in the paper that finance ministry is planning to make it
Rs 5,00,000, that looks practically difficult with huge budget deficit.
2. 80C deduction need to be increased by another 2 lakhs, this will give boost to
savings and investments which in turn give boost to capital market.
3. Bring back standard deduction which can give tax relief to salaried class. At least
Rs. 1,00,000 standard deductions need to be provided to salaried class to get relief
from rising inflation.
4. Abolish short term capital gains on securities sold through stock exchange,
presently it is being taxed at 15 percent, loss of revenue can be compensated by
increasing securities transaction tax (STT). This will give relief to small investors from
maintaining books of accounts and will bring more small investors in market and can
revive intermediaries of capital market.