On Friday, the displaced Kashmiri Pandits requested the Central government to increase their monthly relief amount in the upcoming Budget session, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present on February 1. They further requested to allocate a new employment package, featuring 5,000 jobs in the Kashmir valley. Any Kashmiri Pandit family that lacks a government employee as its member, receives a meager monthly amount of Rs 13,000 for its sustenance. During the last decade, there has been no enhancement. However, families with government employees do not receive such relief.
Ahead of the upcoming Budget, exporters have requested the Central government to allocate funds worth $3.88 billion for the Market Access Initiative (MAI) scheme, to promote Indian exports and touch the $2 trillion mark by 2030. According to the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), the apex body for exporters, the marketing support under the MAI scheme in the current financial year is less than $2 billion and is also grossly inadequate.
As Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the interim Budget on February 1, some experts expect an increase in income tax exemption limits, providing support to women entrepreneurs, and ways to boost consumption and savings. The experts are also demanding for parity in taxation among companies, partnerships, and limited liability partnerships. “This is going to be an interim budget but at least there may be some indications of full-budget benefits. There may be some concession to be offered to individual taxpayers under section 87A under which the overall tax exemption limit may be increased to Rs 8 lakh from now Rs 7 lakh, inclusive of rebates,” All India Federation of Tax Practitioners national president Narayan Jain said.