IEP Chandigarh
The Union Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday evoked mixed reactions among various stakeholders. People involved in travel and tourism industries welcomed the annual exercise, while small and medium-scale traders felt it ignored the sector.
Mahender Singh who is pursuing Post Graduation Diploma (Travel and Tourism Management) in Panchkula based College said that overall, the budget is very good, and on behalf of the tourism industry, I’d like to welcome this budget. Referring to the mentioning of the tourism sector in the beginning of the budget speech, he said it was for the first time that the sector has been given such importance.
The general budget presented by Union Finance Minister has been described by Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala as a budget to advance economic reform and industrial growth in the nation.
He said that new doors of progress will open with this budget and new employment opportunities will be created. He added that all sections of the society will be satisfied with the budget. Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala thanked the central government for including the state government’s digital library scheme in the central budget.
Chautala said that the Haryana government is moving ahead with the dream of building a digital library in every village and has been strenuously working in this direction for a long time. He said that it is commendable to include the plan of the Central Government to build a digital library in every village of the country in the budget and this will lead to a major achievement in the education sector. Dushyant Chautala said that this step of the government will strengthen the foundation of the future and rural children will be able to get better education facilities in the village itself.
Terming union budget as anti-poor, farmers, labourers, small traders and farmers, Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the Budget is silent on the issue of preventing inflation and creating employment. Hooda said the people of the country and the state are struggling with problems like inflation and unemployment, but there was no provision in the budget to provide relief to people. “Farmers are agitating for MSP and employees are agitating for old pension scheme. The budget is silent even on their demands.
President of Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee HS Lucky has termed the union budget as an eyewash and with no futuristic approach. Today taxes are being levied on every item in the form of GST and every citizen has to bear the brunt of taxes directly or indirectly. The basic problem of price rise and unemployment has not been addressed in this budget. There is nothing for the common man in the budget. The relief given to the common man is minuscule and the benefit of income tax is just an eyewash .
Terming the proposals of the budget, presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam for 2023-24, as excellent, Aman Verma, a student of Panjab University Chandigarh said that the budget would do a lot of positive things in the coming years. A huge 33% increase in Capital Investment has been made to Rs. 10 Lakh Crores, which will have a cascading beneficial impact on all the segments of the economy. With regards to personal taxation, the Finance Minister proposed the New Tax Regime as the default system, with no tax applicable for income up to Rs. 7 lakhs. The basic tax slabs have also been revised, providing relief to taxpayers. For non-government salaried employees, the exemption limit on leave encashment has been increased to Rs. 25 lakhs from Rs. 3 lakhs. This huge jump will benefit a very large number of retiring employees.
Prateek Mittal, Executive Director of Sushma Group, said that this budget will boost realty prospects in tier 2 cities as it allocates Rs 10 lakh crore in capital investment outlay and intends to set up an urban infra development fund with an annual allocation of Rs 10,000 crore. Together, these two steps will lead to a massive creation of infrastructure – road, rail, metro and airports immensely benefitting the tier 2 cities. Further, a net reduction of 20-25% in income tax rates will also increase disposable income, and some of it will be invested in real estate
LC Mittal, Director of Motia Group said that the demand for real estate will rise as the government announced a new tax regime and tax rebate. Also, the tier II-III cities will see increased demand and supply as the Government pushes for their economic development. In the Budget, the FM said that the States and cities will be encouraged to work towards sustainable cities for tomorrow that will create additional real estate growth potential.
A government employee said that: “Investment of Rs 2.4 lakh crore in the railway sector, along with the development of 50 additional airports throughout the country, will greatly improve connectivity, making it easier for tourists to explore our country.”
Another student said that “Exemption limit in income tax has been increased from Rs 5 lakh to 7 lakh which will lead to a rise in money flow in the market.
Company employee said that the decision to expand the scope of services in DigiLocker to include MSMEs and make PAN a common identifier, would give boost user documentation, supporting the onboarding efforts of NBFCs and fintechs driving financial inclusion among such companies.
