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Every Indian has set his eye on the Union Budget 2013-14 scheduled on the last day of February 2013, while the Government braces itself to unveil the budget in its pre-election year. People will get glued to their television sets to catch live budget news and watch the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram deliver the budget update. Capturing bytes from the latest news will be the priority on everyone’s mind as they eagerly wait to see whether the budget is populist in nature for namesake or it reflects strong steps to attain equilibrium in the economy? Weak GDP growth, declining industrial production, widening current account and fiscal deficit and sticky inflation have plagued the Indian economy in the past fiscal year. Surging gold and oil imports and slowdown in exports have propelled the current account deficit in India as a percentage of the GDP to rise to a near danger level of 5.4% for Q2 2012-2013. The Government now targets to curb the fiscal deficit at 5.3% of the GDP and adopt prudent expenditure minimization and revenue maximization measures. Inching in that direction, the Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram, aims to acquire more than Rs 5.05 lakh crore in fiscal year 2013-14 from indirect taxes, which comprises excise duty, customs and service tax. Meanwhile, there are also intermittent talks of wealth tax and estate duty. At the same time, revision of personal income tax slabs and new direct taxation policies are also likely hog the limelight. Announcement on the fate of securities transaction tax (STT) and short term capital gains tax is also awaited by the capital markets. Fiscal correction is the essence of the budget and fiscal policies aimed to give a boost to infrastructural development with judicious treatment of tax holidays and incentives for the sector are the major expectations. Additionally, making the real estate sector a more regulated one to encourage transparency is among the key decisions to be made. Government is also likely to introduce more policies to make the environment more investor friendly. The Union budget highlights will be a pack of surprises and is certain to capture all the attention. Also read about- commodities trading, Savings Interest Rates in India
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