Page 5 - Latest Updates on Budget 2025-26

India presents Rs 7,500 cr premiumisation opportunity for Nestle: CMD

Hopes tax benefits in Budget 2025 will spur consumption, sales

Budget non-inflationary, focuses on fiscal prudence: Finance secy Pandey

Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Tuesday said the government has taken measures to lower fiscal deficit and delivered a non-inflationary Budget, and hoped that the RBI's monetary policy will work in tandem with fiscal policy to support growth. He also said that although rupee depreciation increases inflation on imported inputs, it also adds to export competitiveness. Pandey said that the government has bettered its fiscal deficit projections for the current fiscal as well as the next. The fiscal deficit for FY'25 has been pegged lower at 4.8 per cent of GDP, lower than budgeted 4.9 per cent, while for FY'26 the deficit is projected to be 4.4 per cent, lower than what was given in the consolidation roadmap. "It is very important to be very clear that we (government) have to remain within a certain fiscal regime. We have, to that extent, aided the monetary authorities to say that if they (RBI) have to do what they have to do, we are supportive. The fiscal policy and monetary ..

Increasing threshold: Ensuring more people contribute to income tax

The most important question is this: In a country at India's income level, is it right or wise to exempt those earning ₹12 lakh a year from the income-tax net?

Debt management: India must focus on sustained fiscal consolidation

Although public debt has gone up across the world after the pandemic, it is in India's interests to reduce it to a more manageable level

Looking beyond Budget to fund defence: Need for ambitious restructuring

The government cannot entirely overlook the need to evaluate and determine expenditure based on the military threats and capabilities of China and Pakistan

Parliament updates: We live by spirit of Constitution & do not resort to politics of poison, says PM

Parliament Budget Session news: Catch all the major updates from the ongoing Budget session of the Parliament

Domestic demand to boost growth post income tax cuts in Budget 2025: S&P

S&P Global Ratings on Tuesday said the Budget for 2025-26 will boost India's growth over the next few years via domestic demand through income tax cuts and the country will achieve the targeted 4.4 per cent fiscal deficit despite hiking I-T rebate. S&P said India's union Budget is in line with its expectation of gradual fiscal consolidation and that undergirds the positive outlook on India's sovereign ratings BBB-'. The deficit targets are also consistent with S&P's projections. "We believe India will hit its deficit targets despite revenue loss from lifting the threshold for minimum taxable income and slower economic growth. Support will stem from continued large dividends from the central bank and potential capital underspending," S&P said in a statement. The fiscal 2026 budget will boost growth over the next few years via domestic demand through tax cuts for households, it added. "We anticipate consumer spending and public investments will maintain real GDP growth ..

Budget 2025 aims to foster public-private cooperation in infra sector

The budget announcements aim to foster public-private cooperation and are expected to attract global investments in the infrastructure sector, industry players and experts said. In her budget speech on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made several announcements to give a push to various sectors, including infrastructure. She said Rs 1.5 lakh crore will be provided towards 50-year interest free loans to states, for infrastructure development, and an asset monetisation plan will be launched for 2025-30 period to infuse Rs 10 lakh crore capital in new projects, besides an outlay of Rs 500 crore for setting up a centre of excellence in artificial intelligence for education. Rasmi Ranjan Ray, SUEZ India CEO said the Budget has set the stage for transformative, infrastructure-led growth with a record allocation of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the form of 50-year interest-free loans to states for infrastructure projects. Virendra D Mhaiskar, Chairman & Managing Director, IRB ...

Budget 2025: Shipbuilding gets big push from govt eyeing global trade

The Maritime Development Fund announced by the FM will have a corpus of Rs 25,000 cr; besides, tax breaks and easier infra credit access to shipbuilders aim to reinvigorate the shipbuilding industry

Govt framing schemes under export promotion mission for exporters: DGFT

The government is framing schemes for MSME exporters to provide credit at easy terms, promote alternate financing instrument through strengthening factoring services for them, and offer assistance to deal with non-tariff measures imposed by other countries, an official said on Tuesday. The commerce, MSME and finance ministries are working on these schemes, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi told reporters here. These schemes are being formulated under the export promotion mission, announced in the Union Budget for 2025-26. The schemes are expected to be rolled out in about 4-5 months, he said. The government on February 1 announced the setting up of an Export Promotion Mission with an outlay of Rs 2,250 crore to promote the country's outbound shipments. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said through the mission, the government will facilitate exporters to get easy access to credit, cross-border factoring support, and support MSMEs to tackle non-ta

Budget 2025: Internship scheme gets massive fund infusion, to see changes

Based on inputs from the pilot project, government is likely to introduce some tweaks to the programme to make it more viable for applicants and industry, besides raising awareness about the scheme

Budget 2025: Outcomes keep outlay for drinking water and sanitation intact

Given the transformative effect the two schemes have had on infant mortality and other health indicators, government has decided to keep the momentum going with similar levels of Budgetary allocations

New tax regime has no deductions but works for some people: Analysts

New system's simplicity, reduced tax liability, increased disposable income potential 'make it a formidable alternative'

Budget 2025: Which tax regime is better for deductions, exemptions

Individuals earning up to Rs 12,00,000 per annum exempted from income tax; salaried taxpayers get additional Rs 75,000 standard deduction

Rail, defence: Analysts bet on select capex-related PSUs after Budget 2025

Stocks to Buy After Budget 2025: Budget 2025 fine print showed the Government has shifted its focus away from the 'traditional' capex drivers, such as railways, roads to 'other sectors'

Salaried individuals earning between Rs 12-24 lakh will pay 25-31% less tax

Individuals with an annual income of above Rs 24 lakh will save Rs 1.1 lakh in taxes under the proposed regime.

Investing in mutual funds? This is your tax reckoner for 2025-2026

Understand the updated tax rates for mutual fund investments under the Finance Bill 2025. Explore the tax implications for resident investors and NRIs

Budget proposals to garner up to Rs 45,000 cr bank deposit: DFS Secy

Budget proposals for income tax cuts and other tax changes will help banks to mobilise Rs 40,000-45,000 crore additional deposits, Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju on Monday said. The Union Budget 2025 has proposed an increase in the tax deduction at source (TDS) threshold on interest earned from fixed deposits for general (non-senior) citizens from the current Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per financial year. The TDS threshold for fixed deposit interest income earned by senior citizens will go up from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh from FY2025-26, he said. "We see over Rs 20,000 crore coming back into the banking system due to the hike in tax rebate limit, over Rs 15,000 crore from the hike in TDS threshold on interest earned from savings deposits by senior citizens," he said in a post-Budget media briefing. Besides these two, Rs 7,000 crore is seen coming from the non-senior individuals tax savings due to the income tax slab changes, he added. Asked about MTNL debt resolution and haircu

Substantial increase in budget allocation to several states: Vaishnaw

There is a substantial increase in budgetary allocations to all the states for 2025-26 as compared to that of between 2009-14 for the development of rail infrastructure, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday. Presenting a state-wise break up of the budgetary allocation for railways and the pace of development of rail infrastructure, Vaishnaw said that while railways was moving at a snail's pace before 2014, it has made historic progress in the past ten years during the NDA rule. Holding separate interaction with media persons and senior officials of respective divisions and zones via video conferencing, Vaishnaw provided a detailed update of various significant aspects and progress status of projects. According to Vaishnaw, when a comparison is drawn with 2009-2014, the average budgetary allocation for the next financial year 2025-26 is 27 times higher for Delhi, 23 times for MP and 22 times for Chhattisgarh. While the annual average budget for Bihar was Rs 1,132 crore .

Parl panel stresses on need for financial allocations to MEA: Report

Observing that India's "growing stature" on global arena requires consistent and predictable investments in diplomatic, economic and cultural engagements, a parliamentary panel has stressed on the need for consistent and predictable financial allocations to the MEA and recommend that key areas be protected from budgetary cuts. The panel in its report has also mentioned that India's budgetary allocation under the sub-head 'Aid to Bangladesh' came down from Rs 200 crore in BE 2023-24 to Rs 120 crore in BE 2024-25, and the MEA has said that the "downward trend" is due to the completion of large infrastructure projects and the ongoing "political and security situation" in that country. The 'Fourth Report of the Committee on External Affairs (2024-25) on Demands for Grants (2024-25) of the Ministry of External Affairs' was presented in Parliament on Monday. "Observing disparities between Budget Estimates (BEs) and Revised Estimates (REs) over the years, the Committee has been recommendin