Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, presented her fifth Union Budget and the last full budget before the Lok Sabha Election 2024. The budget is being deemed as a budget for the middle class with strong impetus on growth and job creation.

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Sanjiv Bajaj, President of CII and CMD of Bajaj Finserv in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said finance minister Sitharaman has delivered a budget that balances growth and fiscal prudence.

"A number of CII recommendations find their place in the Budget 2023 from the public capex increase to Rs 10 lakh crore, whether it is rationalising of personal income taxes at the lower level, we are seeing significant focus in agri productivity and efficiency, actions on the green energy industry and opportunities there as well," Bajaj said.

He said, "So overall, I would say very good and at the same time sticking to the fiscal deficit target of 6.4 percent this year, and aiming to go below six to 5.9 percent next year. So this is a welcome balance that we are seeing."

Also Read: Key highlights from FM Sitharaman's Budget speech - Tax rebate hiked, cigarettes to get costlier and more

Sanjiv Puri, vice president of CII and CMD of ITC believes Budget 2023 is a progressive and growth oriented budget.

Puri stated that Budget 2023 continues the vision and the path that the last budgets have taken. So it's building that momentum. I think certainly, it augurs well, for the economy.

He said it was nice to see focus on tourism sector as it has multiplier effect on economy, "The whole idea of developing 50 model areas where tourism can be developed, because it has got tremendous economic multipliers, it will create a lot of small and private entrepreneurs, besides the infrastructure oriented projects. So that's, a very welcome development."

Further, Puri said agriculture has always received a lot of attention in the budget, "But what I'm really happy to see over and above whatever has been happening is two things. One, I think, is the sharper focus on bringing technology into agriculture. So the support to agri tech, agri entrepreneurs and developing the public digital infrastructure for agriculture, I think that's a terrific move. Second is this whole move towards a cluster based approach, cotton has been taken as the first value chain. And that is the only way in my view that agriculture can be transformed."

The government has also lowered income tax rates and introduce revised slabs for salaried individuals. As part of its Budget 2023 announcement, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the tax rebate has been extended on income up to Rs 7 lakhs in new tax regime.

According to Rajiv Memani, country managing partner at EY India, changes on the personal income tax front will benefit people with income below Rs 15 lakh.

Memani said, "For income levels below Rs 15 lakh and above Rs 5 crore, this will be a meaningful change. However, for people in between, a lot will depend on whether they are paying HRA or not. It will also depend on how many of them are availing 80C benefits."

First Published:Feb 1, 2023 3:29 PM IST