INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
By Abhijit Roy Chowdhury, Bibhudatta Pradhan, Shruti Srivastava and Siddhartha SinghIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a populist push
in his final budget before elections, cutting taxes for middle-class voters and giving cash handouts to farmers.
The government will
allocate 750 billion-rupee ($10.6 billion) a year for the cash plan for about 120 million farmers and give taxpayers 185 billion rupees of
relief in the year to March 2020, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said in his budget speech in New Delhi on Friday.
In the process, the
government will widen its fiscal deficit targets for the current financial year and next to 3.4 percent of gross domestic product and borrow
budgeted fiscal deficit targets over the past two years, and our expectation that the government will face challenges meeting its target
small farmers, said Goyal, who stepped in as finance minister last week after Arun Jaitley went on medical leave
a record 7.1 trillion rupees in the year beginning April 1, compared with 5.7 trillion rupees in the current fiscal year
Yields on the most-traded 2028 bonds rose 12 basis points to 7.61 percent after Goyal concluded his speech.
The budget -- a 28.7
states in regional elections last month
said in an interview with BloombergQuint TV
Abhishek Gupta, Bloomberg EconomicsTo make up for some of the revenue shortfall in the current financial year, Goyal budgeted higher
dividends from the central bank and state-owned lenders
He penciled in 829.1 billion rupees as dividends from the Reserve Bank of India and the state-run lenders next year, up 12 percent.
While
inflation at an 18-month low, weakening consumer demand and mounting global risks would have given Shaktikanta Das, the new RBI governor, an
7.
Other key details of the budget:Total subsidies seen at 2.97 trillion rupees in FY20Defense spending allocation at 3 trillion
rupeesRailways gets 645.8 billion rupees for capital expenditureIncome from asset sales seen at 900 billion rupees in FY20Dividend income
from central bank, other banks seen at 829 billion rupees in FY20India poised to become $5 trillion economy in next 5 yearsExempts notional
rent payable on a second house owned by familiesExtends by 2 years, the exemption of notional levy on unsold properties
