Budget 2019: Not much to enthuse, say experts on TV with some exceptions

Economic experts appearing on different TV channels as panelists on Friday slammed some of the provisions -- particularly 2% TDS on withdrawal of Rs 1 crore or more, and no concrete roadmap for reversing the farm distress, in the Budget announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

At the same time, several panellists wondered as to where were the figures, which basically a budget is all about.

People also did not take kindly to the hike in cess and excise duty on petrol and diesel as also an increased levy on the super-rich.

Speaking on NDTV, former agriculture minister Sompal Shastri said: In the Finance Minister’s Budget speech, there is no Budget, only speech. This is perhaps the first Budget in my entire life where there is no vision for agriculture sector.”

He said that reforms can be announced at any time throughout the year, but the Budget is the platform to present the “lekha jokha” of the government.

“But that lekha jokha, the figures of income and expenditure are missing here. Also, for the first time there are no timeframes for completion of projects or implementation of schemes,” he added.

Appearing on CNN-News18, noted political analyst and Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav slammed the Narendra Modi government for not collecting any credible data about the farmers’ incomes.

“The government has not an iota of data on farmers’ income. A committee set up by this government only had recommended that farmers’ income must not be deduced from the GDP. The government has been speaking of doubling the farmers’ income but what are they going to double when they do not have a benchmark or a bottom line,” he said.

Yadav also said that the Budget was a ditto of the interim Budget presented in February this year.

“They did not bother to even make even minor revisions, which should have been made, as per the changed economic scenario,” he said.

Speaking on India Today TV, Rohinton Sidhwa of Deloitte said that the 2 per cent TDS (tax deducted at source) was a very wrong decision as the onus would be on the deducter to ensure tax compliance by a third party.

Explaining the pitfall of the move he said: “Suppose I avail a service from Person A. Now the onus would be on me to deduct the tax and deposit it with the government. If I fail to do that, I will be jailed. This is totally wrong because it is the responsibility of Person A to pay his taxes and not mine to coerce him into compliance. And the worst part is the jail provision.”

Economist Aamirullah Khan echoed the sentiment on NDTV India.

“The 2 per cent TDS on withdrawing Rs 1 crore or more is not right because again you are wrongly saying that those dealing in cash are all tax evaders. It is my money and I must have the right to use it in whichever form I like, be it cash or cheque or digital transactions. You cannot say those dealing in cash are stealing tax,” Khan said.

He also brushed aside the cess on high income group of those earning Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore per anum as “too little”

He said that such individuals are around 30-32,000 in the country and such a cess would not add much to the treasury and was mere tokenism.

Senior journalist M.K. Venu too said that taxpayers who have declared their annual income above Rs 1 crore are not many and their number should not be “more than one lakh”.

However, political expert Nishant Verma on ABP News had a different take on this cess. He argued that government was targeting the rich, who are actually bringing money into the economy, to construct its Robin Hood image. He said that this way, such people would move out of the country, as they have done in the past.

Gaurav Choudhury of Money Control said on CNN-News 18 that the opposition was “overlooking” certain parts of the Budget. He insisted that details of job creation were “hidden between the lines” in the FM’s Budget speech.

He said that boosting manufacturing, opening up of PSUs for private partnership, leasing out government lands for setting up industry etc were some of the measures that would create jobs.

Sandeep Chaufla of PwC India appreciated the Finance Minister delinking the reforms and policies from the fiscal bounds. He said that the FM’s speech was a vision document and the details could be found in the annexures.

The jewellers in Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar expressed unhappiness over hiked import duty on gold. Farmers at different places in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana expressed disappointment for non-implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations on MSP and also government not fixing base prices of vegetables.