India's Union Budget 2018-19 one of the best budgets in last few years : Prof. J.D. Agarwal

Professor J.D. Agarwal, Chairman & Professor of finance, Indian Institute of Finance welcomed the budget and considered it to be one of the best budgets in the last few years. The budget is welfare oriented, pro-poor, pro-agriculture and rural people, promoting education, taking care of health of the people particularly of middle class and the poor.

According to him, the budget has rightly focused on generating employment by making a provision of 70 lakhs formal jobs and through an investment in infrastructure, road, railways, airports and helipads, rural infrastructure, interconnecting rural with urban areas with a view to boost employment and quality of life of people.

The governments heavy spending would reverse the sluggish growth particularly in industry as well as agriculture opined Prof. Agarwal. The largees in terms of 11 lakh crores agriculture credit, 22 crores towards Gramin Haat Krishi Bazaar Kosh and setting 52 mega food parks with an investment of 1290 crores will greatly help in increasing the productivity of agriculture. Post Harvest tax incentive and 100% rebate for farming producing companies will help increase production for agriculture produce raising of MSP by 1.5 times and having a target of 100 billions export of agriculture produce will help increase incomes of the farmers in due course.

The Finance Minister has taken care of welfare of poor & Lower middle class families by proving for eight crores free gas connections and free electricity to four crore houses said Dr. Agarwal. This will greatly facilitate reduction in burning of fuel and causing deforestation.

According to Prof. Agarwal, Finance Minister has very well taken care of Prime Ministers's Swacch Bharat Yojna by providing for 6 crores new toilets in the country . His providing for construction of 51 lakh new houses is also a welcome step.

He has been equally concerned for education, health and employment. His provision for one lakh crore for infrastructure system in education, setting up new school for planning and architecture, 24 medical colleges and large amount of allocations made for TB nutritional support etc are also welcome features in the budget.

His provision for 56619 crores for SC welfare and 39135 crores for ST welfare are very welcome allocations. He has rightly targeted to provide scholarships to 50 lakh youth by year 2020 said Dr. Agarwal.

According to him, Finance Minister has been very concerned about MSMEs which constitute 99% of the companies, by providing them 3794 crores and Rs. 7148 crores for textile sector companies and bring the tax rate to 25% with a turnover of upto 250 crores.

He has been equally concerned for investing in infrastructure by providing 2.04 lakh crores outlay for road and rail sector. This will help generate employment and result into growth. The disinvestment target of 80,000 crores is very moderate keeping in view of one lakh crores in 17-18.

It is appreciable that despite large allocations to social welfare schemes in agriculture, education, health and infrastructure he has been able to keep the fiscal deficit at 3.3 % and a growth rate of 7.5% of GDP opined Dr. Agarwal.

It is appreciable that the Tax rates both personal and corporate taxation remained unchanged. He has been very caring for senior citizens by giving relief to them u/s 80D and 194A. Standard Deduction of Rs. 40,000 for salaried class will make salaried class happy. 10 % tax on long term capital gains might effect the stock markets initially. The increase in custom duty of mobile phones and TV parts by 20% is not likely to have much effect on inflation.

On the whole the budget is a welcome shift from market driven economic system to the social driven economic system, where the government takes care of the needs, requirements and aspirations of more than 80%
population of the country.

The Finance Minister has done a tremendously good job in presenting this Budget said Prof. Agarwal.

The budget is in tune with the Budget Expectations of Prof. J.D. Agarwal released yesterday and covered widely by press and news agencies. Prof. Agarwal had forecasted that the Union Budget 2018-19 would be pro-people, progressive, balanced and different from the general trend and expected to take care of the aspirations of people. He had said that the budget is likely to be growth oriented, non-inflationary, with focus on agriculture, rural development, education, employment and investment. Attempts may be made by the Finance Minister to promote affordable housing, give boost to real estate sectors, stimulating growth, promoting digital economy and promoting ease of doing business by removing obstacles through tax proposals.

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This release was published on openPR.