The Union Financial Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman will soon present the Budget 2025 in the Parliament continuing the long tradition. This will be the second full budget of the Modi government after the third time making the government.
The Union Budget is an important event for everybody as it sets the path for economic growth and affects the country’s economy. With the Budget 2025 presentation approaching fast, people are wondering what the budget has stored in for them.
Budget 2025 Expectations
The FM has recently finished consultations with industry leaders, and stakeholders of various actors which started on 06 Dec 2024 and ended on 06 Jan 2025. The FM consults every sector industry leader and stakeholder group to know every sector’s requirements and expectations regarding the budget.
The ministry took in their points and recommendations to make a budget. Based on the pre-consultation, the following Budget 2025 expectations are updated from various sectors:
- The Supreme Smart Power MD, Vikram Gupta expects EV landscape transformation and provisions to incentivize EV adoptions and seamless integration through charging networks and various enhanced policies.
- The stakeholders expect that Budget 2025 will offer more opportunities to strengthen the health insurance sector and make it more simple and accessible for the people. The Bima Sugam initiatives with an aim for insurance for all can drive results with more rigid regulations and addressing the shortcomings. The budget should focus more on government-private partnerships, digital advancement, and other medical technologies to support the Indian health sector.
- The Education sector stakeholders demand more expenditure for the sector as only one-fourth of expenditure comes from the central government. The stakeholders talked about focusing on research & development to present more opportunities to the researchers and scholars.
- The real sector is hoping for a tax rebate on housing loan interest to offer some relief to homebuyers and encourage more investment in the real estate sector. The industry also expects the government to come up with a single-window clearance mechanism for transparency and efficiency in the system.
- The trade Union leaders class for super-rich tax, and hike the corporate taxes to fund the social security for the informal working class.
- The government pensioners and employees are hoping the FM will address their 8th Pay Commission demand in the budget.
- The NRAI demands that the government give industry status to the food services sector and work on introducing more industry-centric e-commerce provisions that will add to the sustainable growth of the industry.
Budget 2025: Tax Relief Expectations
With budget discussions, citizens and businesses often talk about the tax relief expectations, hence many people are wondering about the potential tax relief in the upcoming Budget 2025. Based on the experts and consultations, the following tax changes and relief can be expected from the Budget 2025:
- According to the reports, the upcoming budget may introduce tax relief for individuals who are earning 15 lakh through the Direct Tax code. The FM will release the Direct Tax Code 2025 which will simplify the income tax laws and may replace the Income Tax Act 1961.
- As the Direct Tax code will revise the tax regulations, it will simplify the legal complexities and reduce the burden of offering some relief to middle-class taxpayers.
- Experts are proposing tax rate reductions, revising tax frameworks, potential policies to boost consumer spending, and eventually adding to economic development.
- The experts believe that the budget may focus on personal tax relief in the new tax regime for ₹3 lakhs to ₹5 lakhs slab and the rise in the basic exemption limit.
- The experts also believe the government will come up with clear tax guidelines for NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and other digital assets. The experts believe in the revamp of the 30% tax on crypto assets and income and the TDS mechanism. The stakeholders expect the government will support and incentivize innovation in the digital assets sector, such as tax breaks for Web3 startups and blockchain developers, etc.
- The government may address tax-related concerns, such as rationalizing the capital gains tax, more savings through Indian bonds, indexation benefits, and debt relief.
Schemes the FM will focus on Budget 2025
The FM may address the voter demographics and use this opportunity to focus on the national schemes and enhance them. According to the reports, the FM can focus on the following schemes and enhance them in 2025:
- PM Awas Yojana: In the last budget, the government invested 10 lakh crore to the scheme to improve the housing sector. With the demand for housing increasing in tier 1 and tier 2 cities the government may allocate more in the upcoming budget.
- PM Gram Sadak Yojana: This budget may address rural road connectivity and focus on rural road development schemes.
- PM KISAN: The government may focus on the PM-KISAN to improve the farming sector and support the farmers through lower taxes, and double PM-KISAN financial support.
- PM Jan Arogya Yojana: The government may focus on PMJAY for senior citizens and ensure that people have access to quality healthcare.
- MSME Schemes: The government will focus on supporting the Micro, small, and medium enterprises as they are the backbone of the economy and keep the entrepreneurship spirit alive.
Budget 2025 Date and Time
The Union FM will present the Budget 2025 on 01 Feb 2025 in the Lok Sabha at 11 AM, though the government has not officially confirmed the date and timing. The pre-consultation meeting is already done, and major changes have been happening in the top positions.
New Secretary of the Department of Revenue has been appointed ahead of the budget. Tuhin Kanta Pandey is the Department of Revenue secretary and Arunish Chawla is the DIPAM secretary who also manages the DPE and Culture ministry.
The upcoming Budget 2025 has many expectations, let’s see what the Modi 3.0 government will present for the Fiscal year 2025-26 to stable and sustainable growth of the economy.