In the Union Budget 2022 speech, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the fiscal deficit number should exceed by about 100 basis points (bps) at 6.9 percent against last year's target of 6.8 percent because of robust tax collections this year. But experts say this is a highly conservative reading. In fact, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, veteran investor, believes it is an ultraconservative estimate of the government on the revenue front.
The government, however, maintains that these numbers are realistic. Now, talking about the middle class and the salaried class, no tax relief coming in for the salaried class. There are questions also about the cuts that have been seen in the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme for instance, at a time of economic distress. Now has the budget done enough to boost consumption and demand? What about the move to tax gains from virtual digital assets like cryptocurrencies? When can one see that proposed cryptocurrency bill moving forward?
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CNBC-TV18 special show, Budget Verdict, pours over the budget fine print with the architects of Budget 2022 - Finance Secretary TV Somanathan, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary Anurag Jain, CEO of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Chairman Vivek Johri and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman JB Mohapatra.
India's top CEOs - Sanjiv Mehta, the president of FICCI and CMD of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Dinesh Kanabar, CEO of Dhruva Advisors, Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman of CII’s Mission on infra and industrial investment, Sandeep Parikh, Managing Partner at FinTech Law Advisors - quizzed the budget makers.
Also Read: Explained: What tax proposals on digital assets mean for cryptocurrency investors in India
For the entire discussion, watch the accompanying video.