[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]B[/dropcap]udget2016 underwhelmed me. I was watching NDTV prelude to the Budget speech and Rahul Bajaj’s comments were telling – He said that no matter how much he gets taxed, he is still going to live and die in Bharat. There was a general sense of expectation that the current government would make some bold moves but to everyone’s disappointment, it was more of the same.
The Stock market immediately reacted to it by losing 1% of its value. I won’t be surprised if it falls further after digesting the budget details some more. Here are some of the things I liked:
Social Security Platform based on Aadhar to be developed
Direct Benefit Transfer in LPG, to be done for fertilizers too.
Private operators to operate buses in various routes subject to safety norms.
Health Insurance of up to 1lakh per family.
Crop Insurance for the farmer.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]M[/dropcap]y salute to the 75 lakh households who gave up cooking gas subsidy. This confirms my contention that if the Prime Minister were to request the people of India to save rather than spend a break in retail petrol prices, they would do so.
Some items that make me concerned about the direction India is headed:
Black Money holders can now pay 45% of the amount and will be let off on how they earned it. No questions and no legal repercussions. I hope I am wrong about this.
Declare un-disclosed income by paying tax 30+15=45% of undisclosed income. No scrutiny. Declarations will have immunity.
Recapitalizing Public Sector Banks – Rs.25,000 crores to recapitalize the nationalized banks. This amount is too small and will not even create a flutter. Until and unless the Banks come clean with all their Non-Performing Assets and start offloading these, even for paise on the Rupee, nothing is going to change. The Public Sector Banks have to admit that they have a problem first and then work towards solving it.
[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]I[/dropcap]n summary, I was expecting Narendra Modi to be a bit more adventurous, appealing more to the emotional side of India, exhorting them to save more so they can finance the growth of the country in return for say a 9% interest on fixed term deposits but alas that will have to wait for another day. For the interested, the complete list of initiatives is available on our page here.
His first book NDTV Frauds has been published and is an Amazon Bestseller.It ranked second among all eBooks that were self-published in 2017.
His second book, The Gist of GSTN which too is available on Amazon as an e-Book and as a paperback.
His third book, The Rise and Fall of AAP is also available in print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
His fourth book, C-Company just released to rave reviews and can be bought as a print version or as an e-Book on Amazon.
- Indian Parliament’s Special Session is convened to mark the shifting to new Parliament building - September 3, 2023
- Why did Rajat Sharma of India TV not declare that Adani owns more than 16% shares in his channel? - January 29, 2023
- Prannoy Roy to get Rs.605 crore from Adani as per Stock Exchange filing. Why is Income Tax not acting on Roys’ dues of over Rs.800 crore? - January 4, 2023
To say that the Indian Union Budget 2016 is a ‘Damp Squib” is and understatement and it is like saying “I know Karate! …and several other Japanese words.” Yes, I do know more words of negation in Economic terms. The previous two budgets were so well messed up by the FM that even a PM trying to mend it to match with BJP Election Manifesto could not improve it. It looks like FM helped the PM fail his new Jumla – about Examination this time. Bhagwan Bachaye ! 🙁