Nagpur/New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the interim Budget on Thursday, said that there would be no changes to taxation and proposed to retain the same direct and indirect tax rates, including import duties. The middle-class has been left disappointed with no changes in income tax slabs
The Union Finance Minister further stated that the average time for refunds has been reduced from 93 days in 2013-2014 to just 10 days in the last year. She added that the average real income of people has increased by 50%.
Nirmala Sitharaman, during the last Budget, had made five major announcements on personal income tax to benefit the middle class. She also said that while the new tax regime would be the default, tax payers could opt for the old one. Sitharaman proposed to raise the rebate limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh in the new tax regime. Therefore, if an individual has opted for the new tax regime, he or she will not be required to pay any tax up to an annual income of Rs 7 lakh.
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Tuesday25 Feb. 2025
No changes were introduced to tax slabs. The revised fiscal deficit — the gap between government’s revenue and expenses — is at 5.8% of the GDP for Financial Year 24 (FY24). Fiscal deficit in FY25 is expected to be 5.1% of GDP. The target is to reduce the fiscal deficit to below 4.5% of the GDP in FY26.
This new tax slab (New Tax Regime) introduced in Budget 2023-24 is:
0% on Rs 0 to Rs 3 lakh
5% on Rs 3 to Rs 6 lakh
10 percent on Rs 6 to Rs 9 lakh
15 percent on Rs 9 to Rs 12 lakh
20 percent on Rs 12 to Rs 15 lakh
30 percent on more than Rs 15 lakh
- The number of tax filers swelled by 2.4 times, Sitharaman said. The direct tax collection has trebled since 2014. In 2024-25, the tax receipts are projected at Rs 26.02 lakh crore.
- “For our tech-savvy youth, this will be a golden era. A corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore will be established with a 50-year interest free loan provided. The corpus will provide long term financing and refinancing with long tenures at low or nil interest rates. This will encourage the private sector to scale up research and innovation significantly in sunrise domains.”
- “We need to have programmes that combine the powers of our youth and technology. A new scheme will be launched for strengthening deep tech technology for defence purposes and expediting atma nirbharta.”
- Sitharaman also announced plans to set up more medical colleges through utilisation of the “existing hospital infrastructure under various departments”. “A committee for this purpose will be set up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations,” she said.
- “Making triple talaq illegal, reservation of 1/3rd seats for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and giving over 70 percent houses under the PM Awas Yojana in rural areas to women have enhanced their dignity,” Sitharaman said.
- “Poor, women, youth and farmers — their needs, their aspirations will guide the country’s growth.”
- “The government is working towards making India ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047…Our focus is sabka sath, sabka vikas,” Sitharaman said.
- On social justice, the Finance Minister said, “Our government is working with an approach to development that is all-round, all pervasive and all inclusive.”
- In a review report ahead of the interim Budget, the Ministry of Finance projected that the Indian economy is likely to grow at over 7 per cent in the coming years and is expected to become the third-largest economy in the world in the next three years, with a GDP of $5 trillion.
