Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman is all set to present the union budget 2023-24 on 1 February in the Lok Sabha. Like always, the middle caste people are having high hopes from the upcoming budget since this is going to be the full year budget before the 2024 general elections. There are some major announcement expectations from the finance minister.
Income Tax.
The people are expecting that the income tax rates should be lowered . The Finance Minister is likely to lower the income tax rates. She is likely to introduce the revised slabs for salaried individuals.
It has remained unchanged since the budget 2016-17. It has all been same except for the introduction of a concessional income tax regime .It is expected from the government to reduce the 30 percent and 25 percent tax rates under the new regime .
Further the experts also want the tax exemption limit to get increased to 5 lakh rupees from the existing 2.5 lakh exemption . This exemption would give more disposable income to the common man. Moreover they also state that the minimum tax exemption limit for the senior citizens should be leveled up to 7.5 lakh from the existing 3 lakh exemption.
Insurance sector.
The expectations that this sector has from the budget is a separate section for the Life Insurance Premium and increase in the tax exemption limit under section 80D. It is expected that the GST for Health Insurance be brought down to 5% from the current 18%. There may also be new Income Tax benefits for Car Insurance and Home Insurance.
What about existing PLI Schemes ?
It is stated by some that there is a possibility that India may top up the allocation for the current (PLI) Production Linked Incentive schemes in the 1st February budget after seeing good results. Some new sectors can also be included in this program.
Import Duties on Aluminium.
The FICCI , an industry body has demanded that there should be an increase in the import duty on Aluminium and its products to at least 12.5 % in the upcoming budget 2023-24 . The reasoning was that the move will help in curbing the dumping of Aluminium Products . It would also encourage the recycling of its products.