It prioritizes the needs and welfare of the poor, farmers, women, and youth. The Budget takes place against the backdrop of a struggling global economy and highlights India’s ability to overcome challenges. It also emphasizes fiscal consolidation, with a reduction in the fiscal deficit and aims to reach a target below 4.5% by FY26. The Budget includes high capital expenditure for enhancing public infrastructure and maintains continuity in policies related to housing and infrastructure. 

It also emphasizes self-reliance and renewable energy. India’s growth trajectory and stability have attracted significant foreign direct investment. 

The Budget highlights the government’s commitment to manufacturing, research and development, and innovation.

 It also mentions the increase in remittances and tax reforms to attract foreign investment. Overall, the Budget aligns with the Prime Minister’s vision for the nation’s growth and focuses on infrastructure development, fiscal consolidation, and social empowerment.

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Stocks of companies related to railways were trading in the positive territory on Thursday morning ahead of the presentation of the interim Budget.

Shares of IRCON International rallied 3.26 per cent, Texmaco Rail & Engineering jumped 2.71 per cent, Indian Railway Finance Corporation climbed 2.58 per cent and Rail Vikas Nigam advanced 1.52 per cent on the BSE.

The stock of Jupiter Wagons went up 1.46 per cent, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) (0.88 per cent) and Titagarh Rail Systems (0.71 per cent).

“In railways, we anticipate a surge in investment, unveiling transformative projects and introducing 300-400 Vande Bharat trains,” Suman Bannerjee, CIO of Paris-based hedge fund Hedonova, said.

In the equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 118.59 points to 71,870.70 points and the Nifty quoted 68.20 points up at 21,789.90 points.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim Budget at 11 am in the Parliament.

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The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) recovered from an 18-month low of 54.9 in December to 56.5 in January.

The latest reading highlighted the strongest improvement in the health of the sector since last September.

In Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) parlance, a print above 50 means expansion while a score below 50 denotes contraction.

“India’s final manufacturing PMI showed that manufacturing activity accelerated in January. Current output expanded on robust demand, with domestic orders growing at a faster pace than export orders,” Ines Lam, Economist at HSBC, said.

Lam further added that “the input price index inched up, but manufacturers were able to pass on some of the cost pressures to consumers, as suggested by the small rise in the output price index.”

According to the survey, new orders placed with Indian goods producers rose at a sharp pace in January, and one that was the strongest in four months. Growth was reportedly boosted by marketing efforts and demand buoyancy.

International sales also expanded at a quicker pace. Goods producers reported stronger demand from clients spread across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.

“Collectively, the rate of expansion in international orders was the fastest since last October,” the report said.

Goods producers collectively recorded the fastest increase in outstanding business volumes in 15 months, with demand strength reportedly exerting pressure on their capacities.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of survey participants opted to keep payroll numbers unchanged in January.

Companies scaled up input purchasing and became even more optimistic towards the year-ahead outlook for output.

“New product enquiries and diversification, alongside demand strength and publicity, boosted business confidence in January. Panellists were at their most upbeat towards the year-ahead outlook for output in 13 months,” the survey said.

The HSBC India Manufacturing PMI is compiled by S&P Global from responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 manufacturers.

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The company said the RBI action won’t impact user deposits in their savings accounts, wallets, FASTags and NCMC accounts, where they can continue to use the existing balances.

A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) from accepting deposits or top-ups, the bank said it is “taking immediate steps to comply with RBI directions”, including working with the regulator to address their concerns as quickly as possible.

Shares of One 97 Communications Ltd (OCL), the parent company of PPBL, plunged 20 per cent to Rs 608.80 on the stock exchanges on Thursday following the tough RBI action.

Depending on the nature of the resolution, the company said, it expects this action to have a worst-case impact of Rs 300 to 500 crore on its annual EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) going forward. Moreover, OCL will be working only with other banks, and not with Paytm Payments Bank, it said in an exchange filing.

The company said the RBI action won’t impact user deposits in their savings accounts, wallets, FASTags and NCMC accounts, where they can continue to use the existing balances.

Depending on the nature of the resolution, the company said, it expects this action to have a worst-case impact of Rs 300 to 500 crore on its annual EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) going forward. Moreover, OCL will be working only with other banks, and not with Paytm Payments Bank, it said in an exchange filing.

The company said the RBI action won’t impact user deposits in their savings accounts, wallets, FASTags and NCMC accounts, where they can continue to use the existing balances.

In a big blow to PPBL’s operations, the RBI on Wednesday barred Paytm Payments Bank from accepting deposits or top-ups in any of its key products—customer accounts, prepaid instruments, wallets, FASTags and National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), among others—after February 29 in the wake of “persistent non-compliances and material supervisory concerns”.

“OCL, as a payments company, works with various banks (not just Paytm Payments Bank), on various payments products. OCL started to work with other banks since starting of the embargo. We now will accelerate the plans and completely move to other bank partners,” the statement said.

“The next phase of OCL’s journey is to continue to expand its payments and financial services business, only in partnerships with other banks,” Paytm said.

“We offer acquiring services to merchants in partnership with several leading banks in the country and will continue to expand third-party bank partnerships. The Paytm Payment Gateway business (online merchants) will continue to offer payment solutions to its existing merchants,” it said.

“OCL’s offline merchant payment network offerings like Paytm QR, Paytm Soundbox, Paytm Card Machine, will continue as usual, where it can onboard new offline merchants as well,” Paytm said.

No further deposits or credit transactions or top-ups should be allowed in any customer accounts, prepaid instruments, wallets, FASTags, NCMC cards, etc. after February 29, 2024, other than any interest, cashbacks, or refunds which may be credited anytime, the RBI had said on Wednesday.

“With regard to the direction on termination of nodal account of OCL and Paytm Payments Services Ltd (PPSL) by February 29, 2024, OCL and PPSL will move the nodal to other banks during this period,” Paytm said.

OCL will pursue partnerships with various other banks, to offer various payment products to its customers.  OCL’s other financial services such as loan distribution, insurance distribution and equity broking, are not in any way related to Paytm Payments Bank and are expected to be unaffected by this direction.

“Paytm Payments Bank is run independently by its management and board. While OCL is allowed to have two board seats on the board of PPBL, as a part of its shareholder agreement, OCL exerts no influence on the operations of PPBL, other than as a minority board member, and minority shareholder,” the Paytm statement said.

Paytm said its founder – Vijay Shekhar Sharma — has reconfirmed to us that he has not taken any margin loans, or otherwise pledged any shares that are directly or indirectly owned by him, Paytm statement said.

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Budget 2024 Speech: This is the sixth budget that Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting, which means that she has equalled the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

Budget 2024: Full text of Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech

Budget 2024 Speech: This is the sixth budget that Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting, which means that she has equalled the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

Here is the full text of Sitharaman’s Budget 2024 speech:

The economy has witnessed a profound transformation in the last 10 years. The people of India are looking ahead to the future with hope and optimism. With the blessings of the people, our government under the visionary and dynamic presence of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi office took office in 2014. The government has overcome challenges in earnest, structural reforms were undertaken, and pro-people programs were formulated and implemented promptly. Conditions were for more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. The economy got a new vigour. And the fruits of development started reaching people at scale.

The country is proud of youth scaling new heights in sports. Chess prodigy R Praggnanandhaa put up a stiff fight against the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen in 2023. Today, India has over 80 chess grandmasters.

 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans have been given to women entrepreneurs.

We have made triple talaq illegal, and provided reservations for one-third of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. We gave over 70% houses under PM Awas Yoajana in rural areas to women have enhanced their dignity.

All forms of infrastructure- physician, digital or social are being built in record time. All parts of the country becoming active participants in economic growth. Strengthening of the financial sector has helped in making savings, credit and investment more efficient. A new world order is emerging after the Covid pandemic.

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Budget 2024: Here’s a look at the evolution of India’s Union Budget since independence

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present the interim budget on February 1, 2024 at 11am- marking her sixth budget. The budget precedes the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and is therefore interim in nature.

James Wilson, a Scottish economist working with the East India Company, presented India’s first interim budget in 1860 during the British era.

In 1947, RK Shanmukham Chetty presented India’s inaugural interim budget which addressed critical issues like food grain scarcity, surging imports, and rampant inflation.

Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, in 2001, shifted the announcement time of the Budget from 5:00 pm to 11 am, breaking a colonial tradition.

Till 2016, the Budget used to be presented on the last working day of February.

In 2019, Nirmala Sitharaman changed the visual narrative of the budget, replacing the traditional briefcase with a ‘bahi khata’.

The move towards a paperless budget marked a significant technological shift in 2021.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has delivered the longest budget speech in India’s history in 2020- two hours and 42 minutes. The speech, however, fell short of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s word count record.

In 1950, the Union Budget was leaked during Finance Minister John Mathai’s tenure.

After 1980, the budget printing process was moved from Rashtrapati Bhawan to Minto Road.

The shift to bilingual presentation occurred in 1955-56, with budgets being printed in both English and Hindi.

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The government has now announced the appointment of three full-time members and one part-time member of the Commission.Ajay Narayan Jha, Annie George Mathew, and Niranjan Rajadhyaksha have been appointed as full-time members, while Soumya Kanti Ghosh has been appointed as a part-time member. 

Jha, who has served in previous Finance Commissions, was also a member of the 15th Finance Commission. The Commission’s main role is to decide the tax sharing formula between the Centre and the states. The 16th Finance Commission is expected to submit its recommendations by October 31, 2025, covering a five-year award period starting from April 1, 2026.

 In November, the Union Cabinet approved the Terms of Reference for the Commission, which outline its responsibilities regarding tax distribution and grants-in-aid for the states. 

Finance Secretary TV Somanathan stated that the Terms of Reference are comprehensive and have been prepared after consulting with the states.

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This decision aims to address the demands of smartphone companies and industry bodies. 

Components such as battery covers, front covers, main lenses, and GSM antennas are among those affected. 

Additionally, the import duty on inputs used to manufacture these components has been cut to zero.

 The move comes after the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) called for lower tariffs on components and sub-assemblies to boost smartphone exports. 

According to a report by the ICEA, the country’s high tariffs on inputs hinder growth and limit export potential. 

The report also suggests that mobile phone exports from India could make up 30% of total production in the current fiscal year, but only if the country can compete with China and Vietnam’s competitive tariff regime.

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