Budget 2020 LIVE: Nirmala Sitharaman will present the annual Union Budget 2020 in Parliament today at 11 am

Budget 2020 LIVE : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Union Budget in Parliament at 11 am today.

 

Budget 2020 comes at a time when India is staring at an estimated 5 per cent annual rate of expansion, the slowest pace since 2009.

The Budget speech will be keenly watched on both sides of the aisle in Parliament, and also by investors, both domestic and foreign, besides various interest groups like farmers and the anxious middle class.

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Will budget lay down path to $5 trillion economy goal?

• PM Modi had yesterday said that the Economic Survey, tabled a day before the Budget, outlines a multi-faceted strategy to achieve a $5 trillion economy through enterprise, exports, ease of doing business and more.

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The common man, the industry and the market has a wide range of expectation from this Budget.

What to expect from Budget 2020

• Some analysts are predicting tax changes to help support businesses and consumers. Here are some possible changes: * Tax rebates on home purchases: an increase in this measure would have a large multiplier effect for both employment as well as consumption, according to Edelweiss Securities Ltd. * Cuts to personal income taxes, long-term capital gains, tax on share buybacks: Bank of America said this would help spur demand. * Tax relief for individuals, minus exemptions as proposed by the Direct Taxes Code, would result in a net gain for the government, according to ICICI Securities.

In its Economic Survey 2020 released on Friday, the Union government predicted that the economic growth would pick up to 6.0% to 6.5% in the fiscal year beginning April 1, but warned that it may have to exceed its deficit target to revive growth.

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Live Blog : Budget 2020