Bhubaneswar: The Union Budget 2021 is a genuine straight forward budget without any exemption or deduction to please some individuals. In fact, the market has reacted well to the budget, said a leading Chartered Accountant Manoj Agrawal on Monday.
“Except some minor benefits such as no income tax filing for senior citizens having only pension and interest income and extension on tax benefits up to Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken for affordable housing, it was totally a development-related budget,” said Agrawal.
The Budget emphasises capital expenditure on road projects and one of its highlights is it gives consumers the alternative to choose from more than one power distribution company. It creates competition amid tariff rates subsequently benefitting the consumers.
“It is not a citizen-friendly or consumer-specific budget but rather a country-specific budget. The Finance Minister has also accepted that the country is ready to face a fiscal deficit of 6.8 percent in the financial year 2022 at the cost of development,” Agrawal added.
The Union Budget 2021 has touched all the sectors and rests on six pillars, i.e. Health & Well-being, Inclusive Development Human Capital, Innovation and R&D, Physical & Financial capital and infrastructure, Minimum government and maximum governance, said another leading Chartered Accountant and eduprenuer Bijay Sahoo.
“The Union Budget 2021 has focused on qualitative strengthening of over 15,000 Schools across India under National Education Policy 2020. It’s a great move by the Finance Minister,” Sahoo pointed out.
Sahoo said that Union Budget 2021 has emphasized on health and wellbeing in which allocation has been kept in upgrading health infrastructure of the country, with an outlay of additional 64000 crores.
“As expected, the Finance Minister announced Rs 35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccines but no relief to the taxpayers who have faced the brunt for the past one year,” he lamented.
The whopping Fiscal Deficit expected at 9.5% of GDP is to be contained at 6.8% in 2021-2022 which will be brought down to 4.5% by 2025-2026. Though a welcome measure, its implementation will be full of challenges, Sahoo commented.
