Interim Budget falls short on a key promise made by Modi; creating jobs

Interim Budget 2019:

India’s budget provided plenty of giveaways to farmers and middle-class voters, but was short on detail on one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s key promises: creating jobs.

The issue has become a politically sensitive one ahead of elections due by May, with the government accused of deliberately withholding the most recent labor report because of the possible bad news it presents. A local newspaper published leaked details of the report a day before the budget, showing the unemployment rate reached a four-decade high of 6.1 per cent in the year to June 2018.

Modi swept to power in May 2014 with the biggest electoral mandate in three decades after promising to create 10 million jobs each year. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said in his budget speech last week that 20 million “employment opportunities” were added in two years. Yet no official labor survey has been published since 2016, when the unemployment rate was reported at 5 per cent.


 Much of the budget focused on consumer stimulus -- such as the $10.6 billion-plan to pay cash to farmers -- with few specific measures to help boost businesses to create opportunities for about 12 million young people who enter the job market each year...Read More

5 factors that drove Sensex 500 points higher ahead of Interim Budget 2019

Interim Budget 2019:

Markets gained ground on Thursday with the S&P BSE Sensex rallying over 500 points, or around 1.5 per cent, in intra-day deals. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Nifty50 moved up around 1.3 per cent, or 140 points, to hit an intra-day high of 10,813.
Here are five factors driving the markets:

Status quo by the US Federal Reserve: The US Federal Reserve held rates steady at the end of its two-day meeting, which ended Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee “will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate,” the central bank said in a statement Wednesday.

“FOMC statement and Powell’s press conference confirm our view that the Fed’s pause is, in reality, the end of the hiking cycle. We expect the Fed’s target range for the federal funds rate to remain unchanged for the remainder of the year, followed by rate cuts in 2020 as the economy starts to slide into a recession," said Philip Marey, senior market strategist at Rabobank International.

Supportive global cues: Asian stocks rose to a four-month high on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve pledged to be patient with further interest rate hikes, signalling a potential end to its tightening cycle amid signs of slowing global growth. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose to its highest since October, while Japan's Nikkei moved up 1 per cent.


 Interim Budget & fiscal prudence: Finance minister Piyush Goyal will present the Interim Budget 2019 on Friday. Though markets expect the proposals to have a populist undertone ahead of general elections scheduled for April / May 2019, they do not expect the government to sway significantly from the path of fiscal prudence.

BUDGET SESSION 2019 LIVE: PREZ KOVIND LISTS OUT ACHIEVEMENTS OF NDA GOVT

Interim Budget 2019:

The Budget session of Parliament has begun, a day before the Interim Budget 2019 will be presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, this year's Budget session is expected to be a stormy one. While the Opposition will seek to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on a range of issues, including Rafale, the problem of farmers and unemployment, the government is expected to push its legislative agenda that includes the Triple Talaq Bill and the citizenship (amendment) Bill.
The session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses. Apart from a vote of thanks to the President's address, the government's legislative agenda for the day includes replacing three ordinances with Bills. These include the triple talaq Bill, companies (Amendment) Bill and Medical Council (Amendment) Bill.

 Ahead of the Budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all the political parties to ensure Parliament runs smoothly.

2019 Interim Budget wish: Electronics makers seek Rs 1,000-crore seed fund

Interim Budget 2019:

With the 2019 interim budget round the corner, stakeholders in the electronics sector are expecting the government to create a seed fund of Rs 1,000 crore and abolish the angel tax that has hit start-ups hard.

“The Government should create a seed fund of Rs 1,000 crore, which can be matched by industry and VCs (venture capitalists), to provide seed funding to build 1,000 start-ups in the ESDM (electronic system design & manufacturing) space. We have requested the government to create such a fund in the budget in our wish list submitted to the ministry,” said Rajesh Ram Mishra, president, India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the trade body representing the ESDM industry.
“We have also recommended to the government to abolish angel tax for ESDM start-ups," Mishra added. "Angel tax and the current policy of getting the start-up valuation done by a merchant banker are hitting ESDM start-ups very hard."

According to IESA, start-ups in electronics and semiconductor space primarily depend on angel and self-funding, as very few VCs in India are investing in ESDM companies.
Additionally, the association has also urged the government to enable research and development (R&D) through provisioning separate budget to fund projects of national interest in the electronics and semiconductor domain and enable collaborative R&D among public sector undertakings, SMEs and start-ups.


 With electronics becoming a key enabler in creating an ‘intelligent’ economy like smart homes, smart transportation, smart cities, the association has urged the government to provide support to create 50 intelligent electronics incubators collaborating with industry in various technology and industry verticals in mission mode similar to Atal Innovation Mission.

Piyush Goyal back as interim Finance Minister, to present interim Budget

Intrim Budget 2019:

With eight days to go before the Narendra Modi government presents its interim Budget on February 1, the Prime Minister on Wednesday entrusted Railway Minister Piyush Goyal with ministerial portfolios of finance and corporate affairs till Arun Jaitley comes back from the US.

Jaitley underwent a surgery in the US on Tuesday. With doctors having advised him two weeks’ rest, Goyal is set to present the interim Budget — the final Budget of the Modi-led government’s current tenure, which comes less than 90 days before the Lok Sabha polls and could contain key announcements.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, issued at 8.55 pm, the President, as advised by the PM, directed that during the period of Jaitley's indisposition, the finance and corporate affairs portfolios, held by him, be temporarily assigned to Goyal. It said Goyal would continue to hold his existing portfolios: Railways and coal.


 The communique stated that Jaitley “be designated as minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time he is able to resume his work as minister of finance and minister of corporate affairs.”...Read More