Budget 2024 Highlights: FM disappoints investors, rewards (some) taxpayers

Budget 2024 LIVE Updates: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered the longest Budget speech that lasted for two hours and forty minutes in 2020.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: These are the major highlights from the Economic Survey which was tabled by Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday:

1. Economic growth at 6.5-7% in FY25 vs 8.2% in 2023-24
2. Capital markets becoming prominent in India's growth story
3. AI casts a huge pall of uncertainty over the impact on workers
4. Increased FDI inflows from China can help India enhance participation in global supply chain
5. Remittances to India to grow at 3.7% to USD 124 billion in 2024

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reaches North Block ahead of presenting Budget 2024.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Citi said that the government is expected to allocate more funds for rural schemes to stimulate consumption. These will benefit consumer goods makers like Hindustan Unilever and two-wheeler manufacturers such as TVS Motor and Hero MotoCorp, as per Citi.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Nirmala Sitharaman will place copies of the following documents on the table as per subsection (1) of Section 3 of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003:

1. Medium-term Fiscal Policy cum Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement
2. Macro-Economic Framework Statement

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Economic Survey noted that capital expenditure on Railways has surged by 77% over the last five years. Capital expenditure rose from ₹1.48 lakh crore in the fiscal year 2019-20 to ₹2.62 lakh crore in 2023-24, the Survey noted.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the Union Budget 2024 in Parliament today. This will be her seventh consecutive budget as she crosses the record of late Moraji Desai who presented six consecutive budgets.

When is Nirmala Sitharaman's speech? Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget at 11am today.

It is the first Budget under the Modi 3.0 government.

The Budget is being presented today as owing to the Lok Sabha elections, the interim budget was tabled on February 1.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Indian shares will likely open little changed today ahead of the Budget. The GIFT Nifty was at 24,550 points as of 7:19 am suggesting that the NSE Nifty 50 will open near its Monday's close of 24,509.25.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will visit the Ministry of Finance's North Block headquarters today ahead of Budget presentation. There she will meet her ministry's secretaries and then accompany them to the President's mansion to obtain authorization for the Budget.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Additional allocations likely in the Budget could include PM Awaas Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission, MNREGA and Atal Pension Yojana.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: No, BJP junked its ally JD (U)'s demand for a special status category for Bihar, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. Bihar cannot be accorded special status in accordance with the 2012 Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) report, he said.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Vedant Hamirwasia, Director, ODA Class, said, “We are hopeful that the finance ministry will increase the budget allocation beyond the current 13% to fund more initiatives in the education sector. Expectations include boosting digital infrastructure to facilitate skill development programs, financial aid and tax relief, including a reduction in GST from the existing 18% to make online education more affordable.”

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Pramod Kathuria, founder and CEO of Easiloan, said, “The fintech industry expects a well-defined strategy to strengthen digital infrastructure and promote digital payments for deeper financial inclusion. It is also expecting policy implementation around regulations and licensing processes.”

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Fisdom Research expects more support towards the modernisation of armed forces in the Budget. As Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Budget 2024 today, you must look out for these stocks as per Fisdom Research: Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL), Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), Bharat Dynamics Ltd. (BDL)

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Murali Krishna, V Principal, Spyre VC, said, “We advocate for increased policy intervention in the form of tax incentives to promote technology adoption within government-led infrastructure investments. Furthermore, we propose the establishment of a formal channel to facilitate collaboration between startups and real estate developers, incentivizing the adoption of technologies from Indian startups over those from global companies.”

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget may propose a new tax system with updated income tax slabs. There could be more changes to the capital gains tax structure.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: The Reserve Bank of India gave government a $25 billion surplus transfer in May. This may be used by the government for tax cuts and support for rural areas.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: The Economic Survey outlined various reforms and measures including: skill gap, employment, easing regulatory requirements, and financing bottlenecks for micro, small, and medium enterprises.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Stock market watchers expect a good Railway budget from Nirmala Sitharaman owing to which shares like Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), Titagarh Rail Systems Ltd, Ircon International Ltd, Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd (IRFC), RITES Ltd, Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC), Railtel Corporation of India Ltd and Jupiter Wagons Ltd.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: In the Interim Budget, the government's gross borrowing for the current financial year is projected at ₹14.13 lakh crore. Stock market investors will pay attention to government borrowing as the Budget comes after higher-than-expected dividends from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and financial institutions.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Nirmala Sitharaman may bring changes to the income tax slabs to provide relief to the middle class with the aim to increase disposable income, boost consumption and economic growth in the country.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Here's a look at tax slabs in the new tax regime:

Up to 2.5 lakh: Exempted

More than 2.5 lakh up to 3 lakh: Exempted

More than 3 lakh but less than 5 lakh: 5%

More than 5 lakh to 6 lakh: 5%

More than 6 lakh to 9 lakh: 10%

More than 9 lakh to 10 lakh: 15%

More than 10 lakh to 12 lakh: 15%

More than 12 lakh up to 15 lakh: 20%

Above 15 lakh: 30%

Budget 2024 Live Updates: In 2017-18's Budget Arun Jaitley merged the Union Budget and Railway Budget presentations, ending a tradition of 92 years.

Budget 2024 Live Updates: Elara Securities said that if the Budget focuses on fiscal consolidation, higher capex allocation, increased spending on social and rural schemes along with possible relaxation of income tax rates, it could life the mood of the stock market.