Budget LIVE | Aim is to widen tax net either directly or indirectly: Sitharaman

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FM meeting President Murmu

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FM arrives at Parliament

Budget copies at Parliament

Sitharaman again takes tablet in red pouch to present paperless Budget

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday again took a digital tablet wrapped in a traditional 'bahi-khata' style pouch as she headed for Parliament to present the full Budget 2024-25 in a paperless format just like the previous years.

Draped in a white silk saree with magenta border, she posed for the traditional 'briefcase' picture outside her office, along with her team of officials, before heading to meet the President.

With the tablet carefully kept inside a red cover with a golden-coloured national emblem embossed on it instead of the briefcase, Parliament will be her next destination after the call on President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman Finance Minister, had in July 2019 ditched the colonial legacy of a Budget briefcase for the traditional 'bahi-khata' to carry Union Budget papers. She used the same in the following year, and in a pandemic-hit 2021, she swapped traditional papers with a digital tablet for carrying her speech and other Budget documents.

That tradition has continued on Tuesday.

Markets climb in early deals ahead of Budget presentation; Sensex climbs 264 points

Stock markets climbed in early trade on Tuesday, with the Sensex climbing over 264 points, ahead of the Union Budget presentation later in the day as investors' sentiment turned buoyant amid foreign fund inflows and a rally in the US peers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 264.33 points to 80,766.41 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up 73.3 points to 24,582.55.

Among the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Larsen & Toubro and NTPC were the biggest gainers.

HCL Tech, Power Grid, JSW Steel and Tata Steel were among the laggards. However, later, both the benchmark indices faced heavy volatile trends and were trading flat.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,444.06 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul traded higher while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.

The US markets ended in positive territory on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded marginally up by 0.02 per cent to USD 82.42 a barrel.

Falling for the second day in a row, the BSE benchmark fell 102.57 points or 0.13 per cent to settle at 80,502.08 on Monday.

The NSE Nifty dipped 21.65 points or 0.09 per cent to 24,509.25. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrives at Finance Ministry, North Block, who is set to table the Union Budget 2024-25, in New Delhi, on Tuesday, July 23. PTI

 

Ready for the Budget? Here are the key numbers to watch out

* Fiscal Deficit: The budgeted fiscal deficit, which is the difference between the government expenditure and income, for the current fiscal is 5.1 per cent as projected in the Interim Budget in February, against 5.8 per cent in the last fiscal year. The full Budget is expected to provide better-than-earlier projections as there has been tax buoyancy. The government has projected fiscal deficit at 4.5 per cent of the GDP in FY26.

* Capital Expenditure: The government's planned capital expenditure for this fiscal year is budgeted at Rs 11.1 lakh crore, higher than Rs 9.5 lakh crore in the last fiscal year. The government has been pushing infrastructure creation and also incentivising states to step up capex.

* Tax Revenue: The Interim Budget had pegged gross tax revenue at Rs 38.31 lakh crore for 2024-25, an 11.46 per cent growth over the last fiscal. This includes Rs 21.99 lakh crore estimated to come from direct taxes (personal income tax + corporate tax), and Rs 16.22 lakh crore from indirect taxes (customs + excise duty + GST).

* GST: Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in 2024-25 is estimated to rise to Rs 10.68 lakh crore, an increase of 11.6 per cent. The tax revenue figures will have to be watched out for in the final Budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

* Borrowing: The government's gross borrowing Budget was Rs 14.13 lakh crore in the current financial year as per the Interim Budget. The government borrows from the market to fund its fiscal deficit. The borrowing number will be watched by the market, especially on the back of more-than-expected dividend from the RBI and financial institutions.

* Nominal GDP: India's nominal GDP growth (real GDP plus inflation) in the current fiscal year is estimated to be 10.5 per cent to Rs 327.7 trillion as per the Interim Budget. In view of the expected normal monsoon, improvement in revenue collections and pick up in rural consumption, is expected that there could be an upward revision in growth estimate. Real GDP growth in the current fiscal is projected at 7.2 per cent, as per the RBI.

* Dividend: The interim Budget had projected Rs 1.02 lakh crore from RBI and financial institutions. This will be revised upwards as the RBI has already made surplus transfer of Rs 2.11 lakh crore earlier in May. At the same time, Rs 43,000 crore is expected to be garnered from Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).