Arun Jaitley Lauds Budget Announcements, Calls It "Fiscally Prudent"

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented the Interim Budget in parliament on Friday, the last Budget of the government before the general elections due by May. The minister proposed a full tax rebate to individual taxpayers with an annual income of up to Rs. 5 lakh. Union Minister Arun Jaitley, who is in the US for treatment, took microblogging website Twitter to praise the Budget. He described the Interim Budget as "pro-growth, fiscally prudent, pro-farmer and pro-poor" and one that gives more purchasing power to the Indian middle class.

"The tax exemption limit was first raised from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 2.5 lakhs by the NDA Government. Thereafter, without altering the slabs, people earning up to Rs. 3 lakhs were exempted from payment of taxes," he said in a tweet.

"In a further calibrated move, those in the income bracket of Rs. 3 to 5 lakhs witnessed their tax liability being halved from 10% to 5% and today this category has been completely exempted," tweeted Arun Jaitley.  

"Last year the Government restored the benefit of Standard Deduction to salaried taxpayer at Rs.40,000. This year this benefit is being extended to Rs.50,000," further said Mr Jaitley. 

"Individuals with gross income up to 6.5 lakh rupees will not need to pay any tax if they make investments in provident funds and prescribed equities," Mr Goyal said while delivering his Budget speech in Parliament. He also proposed to raise the standard deduction limit to Rs. 50,000, from Rs. 40,000. 

Arun Jaitley, who had delivered the Budget speech last year, said the Budget expands spending while pragmatically sticking to fiscal prudence.

The fiscal deficit target was revised for the current financial year at 3.4 per cent, as against the budget estimate of 3.3 per cent. The fiscal deficit target has been pegged at 3.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2019-20.