Union budget 2018 live finance minister arun jaitley full speech

Union Budget 2018 Live Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Full Speech

Budget 2018 Live- Get live coverage on India Union Budget 2018, also get latest news and updates on Live budget 2018-19 exclusively at Business Standard.

Budget 2018 Live As Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gets set to present Budget 2018, the last full Union Budget of the Narendra Modi-led central government in its present term, there is an anticipation that he will somewhat shed his prudent stance in favour of a more populist stance one. The view emanates from the fact that this will be the finance minister’s last chance to please the voters through a Budget 2018 before 2019 general elections.

Populism in the government’s annual budget could assume policy decisions like lower tax rate for the salaried class, lower corporate tax rates in tune with Trump’s benevolence for the corporate class in the US and big bonanzas for India’s farmers.

If the Economic Survey, prepared by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian and his team is anything to go by, Jaitley has all the ammunition that he needs to sound the election bugle for 2019 with this Budget. All he needs to do is lock, load and fire. The Indian economy has become more formalized, as is exemplified by the addition of 4 million new income tax filers, the revelation that more than half of all non-agricultural workers are in the formal sector, and enhanced GST collections since its rollout in July last year.

The revenue impact will be revealed in the Live Budget 2018 speech by Jaitley. Whether it provides the Modi government additional buffer to splurge on targeted vote banks in the coming months will be keenly observed.

Also at stake will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s credentials of being a Robin Hood for India’s disadvantaged – an image he has carefully cultivated through his initial spirited justification of demonetisation.

Modi’s image as the ‘the slayer of the rich’ and ‘protector of the poor’ could further be buttressed if his government decides to tax long-term capital gains tax in the future. The kick on the backside of the rich could be cushioned with Jaitley imposing long-term capital gains tax only on future gains rather than inflicting retrospective misery on India’s rich. So, for that matter, even slashing the corporation tax rate could backfire this year for a government that wants to desperately shed the moniker of pandering to the whims and fancies of India’s super-rich.

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