INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sitharaman presents her second Union Budget.
In 2015, when former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Budget on a Saturday, February
28, stock exchanges were kept open for trading, to allow market participants to digest the volatility from the budget announcements.
On July
5, 2019, when Sitharaman presented the first full Budget for the current financial year, BSE Sensex fell 0.98 per cent and it was followed
by 2 per cent drop on the subsequent day, as market gave a thumbs down to Budget proposals such as tax on share buybacks and a hike in
minimum public shareholding of listed companies to 35 per cent from 25 per cent.
Most analysts expect the FM to do some tweaking in personal
income-tax rates, dividend distribution tax (DDT) and long-term capital gain (LTCG) tax, while a few others say an income-tax rate cut may
not materialise this time around.
These measures, if announced, can boost consumption, especially in the semi-urban and rural areas
This will be a positive for volume growth of consumer staples, consumer durables, retail, low-ticket autos and other discretionary goods.