How Modi Govt’s 2024 budget shows socialism is our true national ideology & what’s the BASE effect 

Middle class salaried employees have to pay taxes diligently, but they do not get much back. We still need to pay again for healthcare, education and still need to deal with bad roads and excessive bureaucracy.

Give money to bihar for infrastructure only to see it falling apart after 1 rain😢.

I fail to understand this. Only 4% Indians are paying direct tax. The ask is not to reduce budget but for the government to have our back. Our back in the form of state sponsored health insurance for our family, good education to our children, basic infra (good roads, drinkable water, and breathable atmosphere) and security in case of layoff. That’s it. The government is plainly sucking everything out of middle class and does not even acknowledge our contribution let alone respect.

Middle finger to Middle Class #Budget2024

In future only two classes will exist , The Ultra Rich and Lower Economic classes. Bye bye middle class.

They gave some income tax relief but took it away by increasing STCG & LTCG tax... Once more nothing for the middle class...

Dont blame the politicians for our socialism. Indians are culturally anti-capitalists. How many voted for Vajpayee back for his free market privitization reforms. How many voted for Rajaji's free market swatantra party? How many voted back Narasimha Rao for liberating our economy?

Free helathcare for the poor but for the middle class they can't even let go of the 18% GST. I have to fund my healthcare because I have committed the sin of being educated and employed. Even after paying income tax and buying my own policy, govt still has to take GST on that policy. In this country you get it for free or pay extra. Nothing in between.

Today's budget was last nail in BJP's coffin for my vote. If they think tax paying employees won't opposes, he is mistaken

More confusion for Middle Class. Voters will decide the finishing point for these politicians. Goodluck.

I was hoping they would rationalize some of the subsidies as per Ashok Gulati recommendation and cut petrol taxes. The existing tax relief is not enough. Ideas like replacing Urea subsidy with cash transfer is important. Promoting nano-urea and PNK fertilizers were other recommendations.

India majority of Indians don't want to work and want freebies but they vote in blocks , the real hard working middle class giving taxes and taxes don't vote in blocks.

After absorbing half of congress in BJP before elections, it is clear that the BJP DNA has now become Congress. Instead of giving taxation relief which is the most obvious thing to do to boost consumption and job creation, they have incentivized creation of black money once more.

If Indians wanted a strong government then, they should have voted for a majority govt with strong leadership. Now, enjoy the consequences of your vote or lack there off. People voted for this mess & the voted the coalition in. I don't feel sorry for fellow citizens as they got what they deserve same as my state of Karnataka. Enjoy the incoming socialist moves & higher taxes as welfarism won't come for free. Modi & BJP are not economically illogical, so they will tax for all their welfare measures.

This is Bihar Andhra and corporate budget. Nirmala Seetharaman makes sure salaried middle class will always remain poor and will never save anything.

I just feel that all earning middle class people who could afford it, should leave India to save themselves from this vicious cycle…they tax our income, our healthcare facilities, our vehicles, our roads, our vegetables, milk, food individually and take zero accountability for our health, education….they tax our profits and don’t share our losses, there is no help to fall back to in case there is a loss, no social welfare, nothing……so sad and so angry…the Scandinavian countries have high taxes but everything from education, healthcare is free and of good quality (as much as our corporates)…in addition, these countries give social welfare for a prescribed amount of time in case unforeseen loss of employment occurs…..India robs its middle class….now whenever i see someone leaving india and pays taxes to a foreign country, I congratulate them in my heart saying “your tax is well spent”,meanwhile all our taxes go to ards paying for useless freebies for those who don’t require them and then to paying off Adani’s debts….on top of that, every exam including NEET and UPSC seems to be like a scam show😮‍💨

See Palki First post video. She has really painted how much the salaried class gets screwed by any and all governments.

If you want to blame anyone for this disaster,blame indians,blame the population chunk who decides based on Freebies,Caste,language,reservations etc. BJP had to change its Ideology because hey,if we do infra in UP and people thank us with a mighty defeat then why bother developing at all? Just hand them some lollypops, and middle class? As usual babaji ka thullu

I'm happy. Not giving a clear mandate to BJP is bound to have consequences.

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Socialism is what costed us a lot since Independence

i want to know the type of socialism that focusses on aggressive fiscal consolidation while continuing high capex, cutting corporate tax and angel tax, in addition to rationalise tax rates across asset classes even as it may hurt some segments in short term pls shekhar reply

You are absolutely correct about disinvestment and privatisation. Not a word from our FM . Not a word of full rupee convertibility too .

Politics is the bane of economics - human & economic, was true from 2004 - 14; has been true from 2014 - 2024. Dreaming of the day when we reach our true potential - galloping double digit year on year growth.. we reached 9% in 2004!

This episode is more in nature of an opinion. For detailed discussions please do see the several videos hosted by our deputy editor (economics) TCA Sharad Raghavan…thanks for watching…shekhar gupta

Well private sector has been failing on job and growth generation. They got reduced corporate taxes, best infra in India's history, booming markets, China+1 FDIs, stable tax regime, decent bank balance sheets, insolvancy reforms, strongest capex spending and they used all of this fix bottom line instead of investing in expansion, growth, and jobs. When the capitalism fails then govt will have to come up these socialist ideas like Employement linked schemes and skill India beaurocracy.

Needed a bigger episode, SG. This does not cover sector wise implications.

The govt. is responding to the will of the voters (cue the electoral mandate). It is exactly how a democracy should work.

I don't know why people want jobs and pay these lame taxes. Just register a company and work on contract. You can deduct all expenses and pay only cap gains tax. No income tax. The message is clear: 'Dont be a salaried employee'.

This was not cutting any clutter. Looked like Shekhar Gupta Ji was venting his disappointment. Some of us in Andhra Pradesh, who got the bad end of state partition loosing Hyderabad, and after 5 years of misrule and palace building by earlier government, welcome this budget.

We need a true capitalist party in India, which believes in low taxes and fair market competition.

"This is a strong and reasonable opinion. As the middle class grows in size and acquires more voting power it will be taken more seriously. Plus, the BJP thinks the middle class will vote for them anyway and therefore it can afford to take it for granted. Ultimately it all boils down to politics. Thanks for writing in, Prasuna…shekhar" Shekhar ji still in campaigning mode. Now that they have tasted blood, won't let up in injecting grievance and disaffection where they can.

Urban middle class: Wait karo yaar. Tricking down from cronies who got deals, slowly. Just wait. Do not complain.

Government to Retail investors- Your Profit is Our Profit but your loss is your loss

Was Waiting for this entire day. Only source of News for me is print. ❤

Medical premium @ 18 % gst is a loot

Socialist budgets happen when the design and formulation of entire budget exercise is done by bureaucrats. Socialism is nothing but statism which retains bureaucracy power. Only when the political leadership pushes for reforms, which means reducing bureaucracy power, then we see some semblance of economic freedom for the citizens and firms. There have been few budgets where politicians prevailed over bureaucracy, such as early years of Narsimha Rao, dream budget of Chidambaram, early Vajpayee years and some UPA years. Modi relies entirely on bureaucracy and thus has transferred real power to the Babus. Hence none of Modi era years has got a good budget resulting in continuing socialism with low economic growth.

I'm no expert on real-estate, but I also realise that this removal of indexation would result in cash getting back big time in property market. I first thought that people would start reducing their exposure to real estate and this might stabilise property market, but then I realized how naive this thought is in a country with ever burgeoning cities with very limited land supply. So, then the only way property markets could continue to grow is cash channel. And this could get political backing as well, as their funding now is also cash driven and the 2 biggest sources of cash are, as you know it,: real-estate and agriculture (retail also used to be big cash economy until demonetization after which it has become (UPI)tail)

No business man is going to hire anyone just because govt is paying for 1st month salary with so much of rider wdout any green offshoots in his business. This might just be a another jumla. Such great hope from this budget and they did everything to dash it.

I think salaried middle class need to vote bank bjp out of power just to show the power.. Once parties recognise this they will listen... As bhagat singh famously mentioned something like.. There needs to be a dhamaka so that deafs can hear...

Middle class grows -> stock market grows-> net return grows -> dilligently invest in sip and keep exercising your democratic powers

50% goes to politicians and family

Look while agree there was no tax relief for middle class but first who is middle class in acountry with per capita income of ₹2.5 lakh. Second, if taxes are used for infrastructure creation with 11%(nominal) growth its great atleast not wasting resources on freebies.

Compared to India, USA & UK have been more socialist toward their populations post world war 2, as those peoples enjoyed more protections and safety nets. The key is to practice capitalism outside the country and socialism inside the country, which these countries have become efficient at doing. Having dollar/pound as global currency ensures low interest rates and cheaper goods in those countries. Relocating polluting factories and industries, mining, manufacturing, drilling, extraction etc. to developing and underdeveloped countries ensures their citizens enjoy clean air and water.

We are facing the realities of an insecure coalition govt. it will be magnified if INDI comes to power. Either ways, no saviours for middle class. Taxes like Norway, services like Uganda (no offence)

In 2019 budget, this FM have IT concession of 1.4 trillion rupees to the corporates expecting that they would invest this concession in their industries. Instead it went to line the pockets of corporates. Now, if the government partly subsidises the employment of more people, employers will doctor the employment records and claim the incentive. It is throwing good money after bad money. More than four decades back, Nani Palkhivala called India the "highest taxed country." It continues to be true. Anyway, there is no need to take umbrage for favouring AP and Bihar. It was not unexpected and will continue for the next four years too. You too admit that these two States lost major source of revenue upon division of the States. LTCG and STCG enhancement will affect only those miniscule number who make profit. Why grumble? So, I would conclude that this is the least burdensome budget in the recent times. Instead of Income Tax cocnessions, ask for GST concession before the GST council. That will benefit wider public.

Coalition compulsion, Sir. This reason was given by MMS the renowned economist and UPA PM often, closing his eyes on corrupt practices of allies though he was aware of them. It was MMS who had assured special status to new AP in 2013. It was INDIA allies that was pleading for special status to BIHAR. On this special status matter all opposition under leadership of Naidu came together during 2019 LS election to topple Modi sarkar. But that didn't click. Now on the same plank and in a different manner NDA Govt under Modi is playing survival game. So, everyone should be OK since their demands on or the other time have been heard and met. So, Guptaji, aren't you happy too! Are you going to sit onthe stairs of Parliament in support of Congress and in protest of giving these benefits to AP and Bihar?

This is what happens when a govt doesn't have a full majority,they are bound to serve the alliance parties and their states with special packages. It's just the beginning of alliance rule , can't imagine what would happen with INDI alliance which contains dozen parties and money hungry politicial goon parties like dmk and tmc.

Sad that there is nothing for my state Karnataka..😶‍🌫️.......but happy that there's emphasis on the development of eastern states .....which are highly backward......

Mrs sitaraman is the reason bjp failed the election. Read this comment in July 2029

this budget has been like a kick in the stomach for the middle class tax payer who was already reeling under high GST rates and high income tax rates. The ridiculous high increase in the LTCG and the removal of the indexation is really shocking and a betrayal of of their core voter base and no matte how much window dressing they try to do it will have a significant electoral impact going forward. By removing indexation benefits they have also removed accountability on the part of the Govt to curb inflation - Earlier high inflation would have meant lower tax collections due to the indexation, but now regardless of the Govt's performance on curbing inflation it will be extracting its pound of flesh. The increase in STT, which in itself in a very regressive tax, again shows the socialist mindset of this Govt., controlling and meddling with all financial aspects and try to "mother" their citizens, and doing everything possible to prevent them from securing a nest egg and have dignified post retirement life. The Govt. should atleast make their intensions clear on what their true ideology is - is it to keep their citizens poor and dependent on them for doles ? that way people still in their working age can determine if it is worth staying in this country or if they should seek to provide their services elsewhere

Shekhar.. Now no one, specially Upper Middle class should open their mouth.. if they can't ensure majority to this govt to carry on the oath of reform.. "People get what they #deserve Or ask for, Voting was mainly done by #Poors (ignore muslim part in it), so they got what they asked for.. 😏😏"

People need European like lifestyle but not European like taxes also what is this middle class if your income is big enough to be taxable 3lakh + you barely come under middle class as per Indian standards

How do you view the job creation, MSMEs, and Skill development efforts?

What more do we expect from a coalition government ? Giving more freebies is the way to win an election - privatization, fiscal prudence, reforms will start headlines of ambani adani, etc. It is not worth for the politician wanting to win assembly elections in 3 months!

Where n how does SG see in it a economic socialism?? No gutts to say what others are clearly saying i.e "squeezing middle class and poors " to increase tax revenue.

There is never a good budget since 2014!

one of the useless FM india has even seen, since independence.

First time capitalist Gupta is disappointed with the Modi (Sorry, NDA) Govt budget c'z it doesn't mention privatisation 😂

Sir, Your good friend Ruchir Sharma wrote a book titled "What went wrong with capitalism". Have you read it?

1) What is the incentive for the poorest class who rejected khata-khat of Rs 1 lakh and gave 240 MPs ? Swami Vivekananda " When the stomach is empty, spirituality can not taught". Modi happily comes under pressure of AP Bihar and NOT voters who gave 240 MPs. Modi is safe till 2029 (2) What is for new setting up world-class colleges to study with Rs 10 lakh education loan, other than making them borrowers? (3) What is the allocation for health-specific infra for hospitals etc? (4) What is there for states that gave 100% victory like MP, HP? (5) How can anything be cheaper "? College owners have already hiked fees today to increase their profit, So students will not benefit from the bank loan & subsidy scheme. In January 2024, when the solar ROOF top panel subsidies were hiked, manufacturers increased the price of solar panels, resulting in increase of net outflow for consumers. The cut in taxes and subsidies without freezing the prevailing price IS TO HELP THE RICH ONLY. BTW, in which college the students will join to study with a Rs 10 lakh loan when there are no world-class universities in India to replace foreign study and parallel part-time jobs. Is it to support Ambans who has set up colleges? Education loan burden is aBIG CURSE already on the students who are struggling to repay loans without jobs and underpaid jobs. Why should consumers buy Gold by paying taxes? FM-headed Customs department has been liberally closing its eyes, to allowing gold smuggling by the Malppuraam community, in huge quantity, daily. NPS has been encouraged with a 14% offer. Tax-payers EXCEPT CORPORATES are feeling very ignored Old scheme is abandoned after promoting for several decades.

Capital gain tax increase has nothing to do with socialism it is to cut future and option which has become real concern fir sebi as highlighted in economic survey, BA is concerned it is learning for voters to choose full majority govt next time, bjp has to pacify just 2 ally has to use so much revenue imagine indi alliance banar sena where every one want piece of cake, coalition government are ugly, voter will learn their lesson in 5 years, just like modi learnt on job issue, apprenticeship scheme is game changer although borrowed from congress manifesto but if implemented in true spirit it can relive lot of pressure from govt exam based recruitment

First NDA budget. Exactly.

Sir when do you see Agniveer policy getting over..Will that happen during state elections or next center election

Employment measures are not practical and can't be implemented so easily

Government is trying its best not to let people become rich. So disappointed.

No one can present a budget To please all Benefitting all Satisfying all factors Budget is to give. Space for people to contribute their labour and asset to cause multiplier effect to asset creations Freebies kills enterpris A modest effort A

Bihar and Andhra is paschim fulera of our country

India Government UPA and NDA betrayed Andhra Pradesh. Backstabbing. Everyone forgets Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act. This Budget also not great for Andhra Pradesh. 15000 crore for Andhra new capital also not clearly said free Grant. I doubt it may be to facilitate Bank loan.

Happy for Andhra - it is a long due! A state literally betrayed for the political mileage of national parties and finally getting advantage from electoral math.

SG still hesitate to criticize this gvt objectively without blaming on opposition and congress. When are these pundits grow spine to criticize Modi if not when he’s at his weakest. It’s one thing to get wedded with right wing ideology but it’s journalism to call spade a spade.

IMO, salaried people with incomes between 10LPA and 20LPA are what I would consider middle class. This number is so pathetically small they wouldn't matter in Indian politics. That aside, I still think this budget is good for the middle class because most middle-class families do not own 3-4 houses using hawala money as an investment. The increase in long-term capital gains for houses only affects people who have bought properties using black money for investment. Most middle-class families own only one house for residential purposes which we will not sell. And the increase in LTCG in stocks and mutual funds from 10 to 12.5% is a very marginal and reasonable price to pay.

Never seen such a visionless finance minister

Don't go through the tag, socialism or capitalism. If any 'ism' raises the voice for employment, that's good. One of our parliament members rightly said that we are paying taxes like Europe but are treated like some African countries. In the agricultural field, there was no mention of Swaminathan's recommendations, which Mr. Modi had previously emphasized. There is no thought of multi-nodal food grain storage. There is no planning for the uniform development of states. It's a budget that is aimless, and our media is reacting like headless chickens.

1. This is the most practical budget. Whatever could not be done, has not been proposed!!! One should not bother much about aid given to Bihar and AP; this is the just the financial cost of Modi's political failures in UP and Maharashtra!! IF Bihar develops, it is good for the country anyway. 2. However, what is not said in the Budget, can still be worked out during the year like disinvestment, banking reforms, ease of doing business etc. 3. of course, just to please Rahul and Shekhar, let us agree khatakhat that this budget is nothing but just Congress ideas budget and Kursi bachao budget!! If the sickular pappus can be happy with this, why not!!!!

So basically you earn more to be punished eventually for your hard work, instead of reward. Being poor seems to be a privilege now !

As a middle class person I think its better to emmigrate

But as per discussion of Sharad and Radhika the assistance to AP and Bihar is likely to be in the form of center facilitating through multilateral institutions not directly budgetary allocations. Given that its harsh judgement allocating 2 out of 4 alphabets to AP and Bihar 😀. And S is not new any way. BJP has been doing way more welfare than what congress had done. Its just that the nature of the welfare is more productive and additive to economy. Only the E is new this time. Earlier it was depending on growth to automatically create jobs, that didn't seem to happen in the same proportion as expected, so the additional intervention. Internship scheme is a great idea. Congress was right when they pointed out that BJP used their idea. Where Congress is wrong is, it may be their idea, (at least i heard it from them first) it doesn't become their copyright. What matters is implementation. Congress always had some good ideas, but they never did anything to execute and make a difference. Aadhaar was Congress idea, nothing useful was done with it. MANRGA was a a genius idea that was a disaster of an implementation. So just having an idea on paper is useless unless someone else can pick on it make it useful, like BJP did and doing with Internship idea ( assuming they already didn't have this idea)

Sabka saath Sabka vikaas is gone and now we have- Alliance ke saath Alliance ka vikaas. Samajhne waale kho ishaara kafi hain.

Best away to analyse budget is to publish report card of the previous budgets: which is never done

I politely disagree with Mr shekhar gupta. Mr gupta suggests that socialism means pleasing your allies but he's mistaken. If govt was truly socialist they would have thought about the welfare of lower and middle class irrespective of which state they belonged to. No talk about providing affordable healthcare and education to middle class.

A balanced budget from outside, but they are running out of ideas now to revive the private sector which is awaiting a consumption boom. Govt should boost its own employment and fill up vacancies so that more people can be brought into the formalised economy until the pvt sector picks up at least. This state intervention ELI is hard to enforce and can turn very ugly. Interesting days ahead.

The downfall of BJP has started long back . The budget presented today will further accelerate the downfall. Imagine government collects income tax from a person who earns meagre incomes God save that individual and his family. Not able to keep savings, not able to purchase a home , not able to afford his children education. Life becomes miserable for lakhs of such people who do not want to take freebies from government and lead a dignified life. If BJP is intransigent, then the leaders must be ready to face the anger of hardworking middle class people. By the way i am a BJP stalwart since 2014.

Wonderful SG, need more CTC on the Budget

Correction Hyderabad is not a part of Andhra Pradesh

Shekar gupta, as is his wont, wouldn't be critical of a party in power, directly on its face. Not that he is afraid of it. It is his very nature. He knows the budget is obviously not meant for india. It is special and specific for two states - A& B. That is for only Andhra and Bihar. What is the logic behind it ? Gupta knows the answer but will not be critical due to his nature. It is not so hidden yet very much serious. Modi's palanquin of power is held aloft by two pallbearers, namely Nithish and chandrababu. They have to be curried favor. Or else the palanquin may be dropped any moment by them Now Shekar Gupta's nature should be clear - the evergreen wishy washy journalist who always deals with issues superficially.

full joker budget filled with agendas for bihar and andhra while there is nothing much for middle class

Winthout creating demand for consumption of goods and services, india ia a done case. Leave the country if you can

Very strange that the middle-class has become invisible

increase black money is the hidden message of this budget

The most important thing about this budget is that the government recognises the requirements and is trying ways and means to get things going. SG can find many negatives, but SG was wrong in the actual outcome of the last 10 years of budget, so let's hope this one will be the eleventh failure. FM is giving a roadmap for the future and definitely not throwing away money around. The need for skilled people is the reason why the new scheme of employment is put in ,maybe its not to SG liking, but let's be positive, and I hope it could be the start we are looking for.

This is why they need taxes - take a look at Indian MP Salary and Allowances - Basic Salary: ₹1,00,000 per month Constituency Allowance: ₹70,000 per month Office Expenses Allowance: ₹60,000 per month Daily Allowance: ₹2,000 per day (during Parliament sessions or committee meetings) Housing Allowance: ₹40,000 per month (if not provided with government accommodation) Travel Allowance: Free air travel (34 times a year) and unlimited free train travel for MP and a companion Pension: Starting from ₹25,000 per month MPLADS Fund: ₹5 crore per year for constituency development

Nirmala is adamant on abolishing old tax because it is complex. Congrats ❤❤❤ What about complexities in Balance sheet of corporates? Dont you allow several complex provisions to avoid income tax ? Whay about a new tax model for business balance sheets ?

Useless budget

You will understand the pain only if you meet the public, address their issues get elected by their votes or else this will be the result...

The Print must defend relatively good budget of Modi Govt to make Bharat grow economically. Congress under influence of leftist can not make Bharat economically strong for vested interest .

Leverage. That is the word.

"Socialism" just means freebies

Nirmala Sitharaman was previously the Defence Minister and now Finance Minister. Looks like she is desperate for a job and will accept whatever portfolio is assigned to her regardless of her capability. She needs to decide what her specialty and core competency is.

As RG aptly said, Kursi bachavo budget. Tax the taxpayers and give money to coalition parties so that they can make money and don't crib.