Income tax rate may be cut in Budget: Report

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may cut income tax slabs in February's Budget
• The tax exemption limit may, however, remain unchanged at ₹2.5 lakh

Railways operating ratio in 2017-18 was 98.44%, worst in 10 years: CAG

• The CAG also recommended that railways need to take steps to augment their internal revenues
• The Railways has also been unable to meet its operational cost of passenger services and other coaching services

Finance ministry looks to widen tax base in FY21 budget

• Eligible assessees with sales up to ₹2 crore can compute their taxable income at 8% of their gross sales
• They can do it at 6% if amounts are received through account payee cheque, draft or electronic means

No need to announce tax proposals in Budget: Garg

• Former department of economic affairs secretary SC Garg is in favour of scrapping tax proposals in Budget speech
• Garg has written a 72-page policy prescription for India to become $10 trillion by 2030

Relaxing FDI limit in insurance intermediaries to boost distribution: Fitch

• The Budget 2019-20 tabled in Parliament on July 5, permitted foreign companies to own up to 100 per cent in insurance intermediaries
• The proposed change is only applicable to insurance intermediaries while the cap on foreign ownership in insurance companies will remain at 49%

Budget 2019-20 speech: Rhetoric and reality

A Mint analysis shows that there is little correlation between how much a theme is covered in the speech and its allocated expenditure in the budget

FPIs, other investors await Sitharaman’s reply on Budget

• Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had raised the surcharge on the super rich in her Budget, effectively hitting foreign portfolio investors as well with the higher tax
• Some 40% of the FPIs automatically come under the higher tax rate

What Budget 2019 tells us about government job growth

The Centre aims to significantly raise public sector employment, which hit a six-year-low in FY18, but it is worth taking the estimates with a pinch of salt

The government’s budget math faces a tax challenge

Inadequate GST tax revenue might push the government to aggressively target more tax from corporates, in a repeat of what happened in 2018-19

No reason to clarify higher tax on FPIs, says Sitharaman

• FM Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed in her FY20 budget an increase in surcharge from 15% to 25% on the income tax outgo of taxpayers with income in the ₹2-5 crore range
• The surcharge has been increased from 15% to 37% in the case of those earning more than ₹5 crore

Government to clarify on super rich tax on FPIs

• FM Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed in her FY20 budget an increase in surcharge from 15% to 25% on the income tax outgo of taxpayers with income in the ₹2-5 crore range
• The surcharge has been increased from 15% to 37% in the case of those earning more than ₹5 crore

Budget 2019: What is India's biggest revenue source

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kept total borrowing plan unchanged at 7.1 trillion rupees
• The budget didn’t contain any major proposals to boost spending

Opinion | A platform to deliver aspirations while balancing fiscal constraints

One hopes the budget will help unshackle ‘animal spirits’ of investors and entrepreneurs

Opinion | Budget 2019: Result-oriented, well-balanced and pragmatic

We hope govt will take steps to safeguard local industries such as aluminium, copper, iron ore

Higher taxes on the rich, but low returns for the Union government

• The govt expects the additional revenue from the increased surcharge on individuals at just ₹2,724 crore
• On Friday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to raise the surcharge on individuals earning ₹2-5 crore a year to 25%

India looks to lead electric vehicle race with latest push in budget

• The finance minister announced tax rebates of up to ₹1.5 lakh on interest paid on loans to buy EVs
• India, though, like China or countries in the EU, has not set a target for automakers to convert a certain part of their total vehicle production to electric or other electrified offerings

The story of budget 2019, explained in 10 charts

The Jaitley years have left a deep imprint on Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden budget, which signals more of continuity than change, an analysis suggests

Investors may be in for more pain as buyback, public float norms set to bite

• Stock buybacks may fall out of favour due to the levy of 20% tax on them
• Publicly traded companies in India had bought back shares worth ₹1.43 trillion in the past three years

Income tax burden weighs on the salaried class even as costs climb

• No hike in exemption limits and the government’s proposal for additional cess on fuel will pinch the salaried
• Budget 2019 has left income tax slabs unchanged, to the disappointment of the salaried class

Dodging tax to be tougher as budget plugs loopholes

• Filings of returns to be compulsory for those making high-value transactions
• The Finance Bill proposals are part of the govt’s strategy to boost tax collections for funding welfare schemes