In June 2020, the Government stopped giving LPG subsidies. It is time to do away with the hidden subsidy on the cylinder for better fiscal management In the Union Budget for 2023-24, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has shown an expenditure of Rs 9,170 crore on petroleum subsidy (this is primarily a subsidy on LPG for household consumption) during 2022-23 as per the revised estimates (RE). She has kept the budget estimate (BE) for 2023-24 at Rs 2,257.09 crore. By definition, a subsidy on the purchase of any given product is financial assistance given by the state to a certain class of persons who cannot afford to pay the market-based or cost-plus price from their limited income. Subsidy on LPG is...
More
Comments are closed
Category: Pioneer
Budget revolutionises personal income tax
The new personal income tax regime will spur economic growth as it leaves more cash in the hands for people In Budget 2023-24, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made some radical changes in the structure of personal income tax (PIT). To get a sense, let us first take a look at what she did in her Budget 2020-21. Then, Sitharaman had announced the Modi Government’s intention to move towards a regime that was simple, free from a plethora of exemptions and deductions, and reduced the tax liability of assesses, thereby leaving higher disposable income in their hands. From the perspective of the economy, the idea was to give a boost to aggregate demand and drive growth. Under the old regime...
More
Comments are closed
Off-budget liabilities return in Budget ’23
Unless PM Modi cracks the whip on reforms in food and fertiliser subsidy, such liabilities will haunt economy In Budget 2020-21, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman candidly acknowledged the existence of the so-called off-budget liabilities and extra-budgetary resources (EBRs) and mentioned these in an annexure. EBRs are those financial liabilities or borrowings that are raised by public sector undertakings (PSUs) and other agencies of the government to fund latter’s schemes for which repayment of entire principal and interest is done from its Budget. If all obligations pertaining to the borrowings are met by the Union government then why does it not take these on its own balance sheet (BS) instead of riding piggyback on its agencies/PSUs? The reason is by not...
More
Comments are closed
Delink disinvestment from Budget exercise
The Union Government must set up a holding company where all of its shares in the Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) are placed In Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had set a target of Rs 65,000 crore for proceeds of sale of Union government shareholding in central public sector undertakings (CPSUs). Against this, the revised estimate (RE) is placed at just about Rs 31,000 crore which works out to 47 per cent of the target. For 2023-24, Sitharaman has set a target of Rs 51,000 crore. During the last eight years since 2015-16 when this government started disinvestment with particular focus on ‘strategic’ sale (a sophisticated nomenclature for share sale that reduces its holding in the CPSU to...
More
Comments are closed
Budget 2023 targets inclusive growth
The Finance Minister has given a push to growth through a judicious blend of encouraging investment and consumption Guided by the overriding objective of laying the foundation of putting India on a rapid and sustainable growth trajectory, for three years in a row, the Narendra Modi government has presented an investment-led Budget. Most of the budgetary allocations are going into building infrastructure, while the government has taken measures to promote investment by the private sector. The Budget for 2023-24 continues with this overarching strategy. In her maiden Budget for 2019-20, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had laid a roadmap for catapulting the Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2024-25. In sync with this target, she had projected an investment requirement of...
More
Comments are closed
Bringing back OPS may be catastrophic
The new pension scheme or NPS has addressed the inequity issue by providing a platform to the private sector Even as the finances of states were beginning to look better as reflected in decline in the ratio of state government debt to GDP from 31.2 per cent during 2021-22 to 29.5 per cent during 2022-23—as per the budgetary estimate (BE) —the political brass in different states have made populist announcements which don’t augur well for the future. One of these relates to the revival of the old pension scheme (OPS). Making a statement in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad said, “The state governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand have informed the Central government...
More
Comments are closed
Fertiliser subsidy: Shortcuts won’t work
The initiatives taken by the Government are unlikely to bring down the quantum of fertiliser subsidy Propelled by the need to return to fiscal consolidation path and targeting fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP at 5.9 per cent for financial year (FY) 2023-24 (against 6.4 per cent for FY 2022-23), the Union government is keen to rein in major subsidies. It wants to slash fertilizer subsidies from the likely actual of around Rs 250,000 crore during the current FY to Rs 140,000–150,000 crore during 2023-24. Does it have measures to deliver? Is it merely banking on a drop in international fertiliser prices? Fertilizer subsidy is payments made to manufacturers or importers to cover the excess of the cost of...
More
Comments are closed
Stop demonising demonetisation
Demonetisation was a major reform that helped in laying the foundation for inclusive and sustainable growth Delivering a majority 4:1 verdict on January 2, 2023, the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the constitutional validity of the demonetization announced by the prime minister, Narendra Modi on November 8, 2016. But the controversy refuses to die down. Reiterating its stance that the decision was disastrous, the grand old party (GOP) opines that the question of ‘whether the stated objectives of demonetization have been achieved’ was not examined by the SC. Being a policy matter that lies within the exclusive domain of the Union government/executive, its examination by the judiciary was not required; SC’s mandate was to deliver its verdict on the legality of...
More
Comments are closed
India must tax MNCs for revenues here
Ideally, the source country from where an offshore firm is deriving its income should have sole right to collect tax Over the years, an increasing share of the income generated globally has gone towards boosting the profits. The proportion of corporate profit in global GDP (gross domestic product) went up from 14.5 per cent during 1975 to 16.2 per cent in 2000 and further to 20 per cent during 2019. The growth in profit, in turn, was driven largely by multinational companies (MNCs) – companies which operate in several jurisdictions. Their share in corporate profit increased from four per cent during 1975 to 18 per cent during 2019. Even more disconcerting is the fact that such companies didn’t pay taxes...
More
Comments are closed
PMGKAY withdrawn but free food stays
Government should seriously ponder over giving subsidy directly to the beneficiary as the current system is defective After much dilly-dallying, the Union Government has cleared the air on the fate of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). On December 23, 2022, the Cabinet decided to terminate it from January 1, 2023. At the same time, it has decided to provide free ration to about 820 million poor in the country under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year i.e. till December 31, 2023, in a bid “to shield the masses from shocks to the system at a time the economy was recovering in the aftermath of Covid crisis”. Making these announcements, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution...
More
Comments are closed