Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to address the Lok Sabha today at approximately 4 PM, responding to discussions on the Finance Bill. This follows the House’s passage of the Appropriation Bill for the central government’s 2024-25 expenditure on Monday.

The 2024-25 Union Budget, presented by Sitharaman on July 23, outlines several key economic measures. The fiscal deficit target has been set at 4.9% of GDP, with plans to reduce it below 4.5% by 2025-26. The capital expenditure outlay remains at Rs 11.11 lakh crore, marking an 11.11% increase from the previous year.

Sitharaman has proposed various customs duty adjustments, potentially reducing costs for items such as gold, silver, and leather goods. The budget also introduces changes to capital gains tax rates, with short-term gains on specified financial assets now taxed at 20% instead of 15%, and long-term gains at 12.5% instead of 10%.

Also, she proposed to fully exempt customs duties on 25 critical minerals and reduce basic customs duty on two of them.

A notable amendment offers relief on capital gains tax in property transactions, allowing taxpayers to choose between two calculation methods. Additionally, the “angel tax” has been abolished for all investor classes to bolster the startup ecosystem.

Despite global economic challenges, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran projects India to remain the fastest-growing major economy in 2024-25, with an estimated growth rate of 6.5-7.0 percent. The passage of the Finance Bill will complete the budget process for 2024-25, setting the financial course for the nation in the coming fiscal year.

(Inputs from ANI)