Union Budget 2023

Further, reduction of duty on LGD seeds from 5 per cent to 'nil' has also been accepted which will result in reducing the cost of production of LGD growers and make our LGD exports globally competitive. The recommendation of the Department of Commerce for creating separate HS codes for LGD has also been accepted. It would enable tracking the international trade in lab-grown diamonds.

Ravi Kumar, Founder & CEO, Upstox said to encourage more retail investing and insurance adoption, "we wish that the Finance Minister would increase tax savings for investments and reconsider the proposal to discontinue the tax SOPs on mutual funds and insurance".

The disinvestment target was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the union budget on Wednesday. For 2023-24, the budget has pegged disinvestment revenue at Rs 51,000 crore. In addition to this, around Rs 10,000 crore is expected to come from monetisation of government assets

The enhanced allocations in the Budget will also cater to Training Aids and Simulators for Agniveers and ensure that they achieve the set standards of training for induction into the Defence Forces. "This will cater to sustenance of weapon systems, platforms including ships/ aircraft and their logistics; boost fleet serviceability; emergency procurement of critical ammunition and spares;

"It has been observed that several high-net-worth individuals are misusing the exemption provided under Section 10(10D) of Income Tax Act by investing in policies having large premium contributions (as it is acting as an investment policy) and claiming exemption on the sum received under such life insurance policies," the explanatory memorandum on Finance Bill's provisions, said.

FINER's former Chairman and Budget analyst R. S. Joshi said that the northeast region may not have usual mention but that is fine so long the Budget is very liberal in funding infrastructure and socio-economic projects aimed at providing better living to people of the northeastern region.

The Union Budget 2023-24 envisaged a total outlay of Rs 45,03,097 crore. Of this, the Ministry of Defence has been allocated a total budget of Rs 5,93,537.64 crore, which is 13.18 per cent of the total Budget. This includes an amount of Rs 1,38,205 crore for defence pensions. The total defence budget represents an enhancement of Rs 68,371.49 crore (13 per cent) over the Budget of 2022-23.

For empowerment of senior citizens, the Finance Minister said: "The maximum deposit limit for senior citizen savings scheme will be enhanced from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. Further, the maximum deposit limit for the monthly income account scheme will be enhanced from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 9 lakh for single account and from Rs 9 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for joint account."

The corporate tax regime is already very attractive with effective tax rates of 25.17 per cent, and even a lower tax rate of 17.16 per cent for new manufacturing companies. The possible areas for further improvement are the extension of period for commencement of manufacture for availing the lower tax rate and reduction of tax on dividends to a maximum of 20 per cent, Surana said

"Budget 2023-24 has been announced at a time when India finds itself in the bright spot as the growth of Indian economy is highest among the leading economies," said Saket Dalmia, President, PHDCCI, while reacting to the Budget that was presented in the Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday.