Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021-2022 in the Lok Sabha on 1st Feb. Newly launched scheme ‘PM Atma Nirbhar Swasthya Bharat Yojana’ aims to develop primary and secondary healthcare, while Mission Poshan 2.0 aims to improve nutritional outcomes over 100 districts.
Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021-2022 in the Lok Sabha on 1st Feb. This is the only time a paperless budget was presented. A considerable amount of weightage is given to Health and sanitisation sector.
A newly launched scheme ‘PM Atma Nirbhar Swasthya Bharat Yojana’ aims to develop primary and secondary healthcare, while Mission Poshan 2.0 aims to improve nutritional outcomes over 100 districts. Among other vital schemes and plans, the existing healthcare units at 32 airports, 15 seaports and land ports are getting modernised as well. Jal Jeevan mission aims towards providing better water supply all over India. The budget also includes urban Swachh Bharat Mission.
Education
100 new Sainik schools are about to be set up. 750 Eklavya schools will be set up in tribal areas. A central university will be set in Ladakh.
Infrastructure
If you own an old vehicle, get ready to say goodbye as the vehicle scrapping policy execution will be in full action. All personal vehicles will undergo a fitness test at the automated fitness centres every 20 years. All commercial vehicles will undergo a test every 15 years. Good news for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam. Residents will get to see new highway and roads in these states.
Railway
National rail plan is created to introduce the future-ready Railway system by 2030.
Electricity
100% electricity plan will be completed by 2023
Metro Rail
27 cities of the country to get metro service. Additionally, Kochi, Bengaluru, Nashik, Nagpur and Chennai will see phase 2 construction.
Tax
There will be no IT filling for people above 75 years. Affordable housing project to get a tax holiday for one year. Customs duty on metals like gold and silver to be rationalised.
Economy
An IPO of LIC will be introduced this year.
Agriculture
1000 more mandis will be integrated into the ENAM market place. 5 major fishing hubs will be developed. A portal will be launched to maintain information on gig workers and construction workers
What’s in For Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir will get to see the Gas Pipeline project, expected to begin this year.
Our take on Budget 2021
While the country is getting back to normal or rather a new normal, we see that a lot of businesses will begin to pick up. Especially the construction sector will grow at a rapid pace. This may bring back the migrant workers who had let the metro cities during covid.
Surprisingly there was no update on income tax forms. However, a small update regarding pre-filled information in your Income Tax return will make your tax filling slightly easier. So how will this happen? Your PAN CARD will be linked to various services which will allow the government to fetch the required information. Does this mean, the government will now have more details about your income than before? Certainly yes!
So what will get expensive and what will go cheaper?
Indians are happy about amendments made on Gold and Silver custom duty. Earlier the custom duty was 12.5 % which has now been reduced to 7.5 %. Further, you can expect the rates of electronics products to go low as the customs duty on Iron, Steel, and Copper has been reduced from 5% to 2.5%.
We know many electronic units are growing at a rapid pace, and India is exporting electronic, including charging devices. Hence, it comes as happy news as the exemptions on electronics and charging devices have been removed.
Auto parts price may increase as the customs duty has been increased to 15%. Further, we can expect to see petrol and diesel prices to go even higher than what they are at present.
Were elections in India kept in mind while framing the budget 2021?
We know the West Bengal legislative assembly elections will be held soon, so we did expect some development plans for the state.
Our Review
We would rate this year’s budget ‘Average’. If you buy and sell the share and are planning to take your trading decision based on the budget, we suggest still considering the company’s past track record. Further, if we look back to around 5-6 years, we think budget by Ex-Finance Minister Piyush Goel was one of the best budgets as it covered every aspect of the country’s development. What do you think about the budget 2021? Do share your opinion with us.
