Post-Budget LIVE: FM dismissed inflation ‘in 10 words’: Chidambaram in RS

The Union Budget has allocated Rs 10,586 crore for the development of railway sector in Odisha for the 2024-25 financial year, an official release said.

Between 2009 and 2014, when the UPA was in power at the Centre, the state received Rs 838 crore on average each year for the sector, according to the Railways.

“A remarkable outlay of Rs 10,586 crore has been allocated to Odisha in FY 2024-25 Budget. This will transform rail network into world-class standards and enhance the passenger experience akin to flying,” Divisional Railway Manager of Khurda Road said in an X post.

Currently, 40 rail projects are under implementation in the state and the Centre will spend Rs 54,054 crore on them, he said.

Meanwhile, the Railways have achieved 100 per cent route electrification in the state and as many as 59 railway stations are being redeveloped as Amrit Bharat Station Scheme aims at modernising railway stations.

The official datasheet released by the East Coast Railways said that an average of 53 km of new rail tracks were laid in the state during the UPA period from 2009 to 2014 while at least 183 kilometres of new tracks were drawn in a year during the NDA period.

As many as 427 flyovers and underpasses have been constructed in the state since 2014, the railway official said.

Extending the losing streak to the fourth day, benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 280 points on Wednesday due to profit booking in financial and banking shares after the government announced a hike in securities transaction tax and short-term capital gains tax in the Budget for 2024-25.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 280.16 points or 0.35 per cent to settle at 80,148.88 with 19 of its components closing lower and 11 with gains. During the day, it tumbled 678.53 points or 0.84 per cent to 79,750.51.

The NSE Nifty dropped 65.55 points or 0.27 per cent to 24,413.50.

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said his government has decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting to be held on July 27 to protest against the Centre allegedly “hurting” the state’s rights and not releasing funds due to it.

Revanth announced the government’s decision in the Legislative Assembly.

“Prime Minister is the chairman of NITI Aayog. NITI Aayog meeting would be held on (July) 27th under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji. As Chief Minister of Telangana, (I am) boycotting the NITI Aayog meeting for hurting Telangana’s interests, not releasing the funds due to Telangana and for not giving the permissions due to be given to Telangana,” he said.

The Assembly passed a resolution — opposed by the BJP — against the Centre’s alleged discrimination towards the state in the Union Budget after a day-long debate.

The removal of indexation benefits from real estate transactions will be beneficial for taxpayers when it is seen through the prism of “actual market dynamics” rather than plain mathematics, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Ravi Agrawal said on Wednesday.

The head of the direct taxes administration in the country told news agency PTI that the department did “some calculations” in this context before the measure announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday in Parliament.

Agrawal also underlined that the new system says there will be “less tax obligation” for a taxpayer here.

The Budget 2024-25 has reduced tax rates on capital gains earned from the sale of house properties held for the long term but has removed the benefit of indexation available to taxpayers.

The LTCG (long-term capital gains) has been reduced from 20 per cent with indexation benefit to 12.5 per cent without indexation for the real estate sector.

Indexation is a mechanism to adjust the purchase price of an investment like a house to reflect the effect of inflation on such assets.

Over the concerns raised by a section that feels taking away indexation will affect the real estate market adversely, Agrawal asserted that “practically, in most of the cases, the new scheme would be beneficial”.

He said there were demands from various quarters and taxpayers to “simplify” the capital gains regime.

The CBDT Chairman said the intention of this Budget measure is to make this process simple as any “complicated structure brings with it disputes also”.

“Take the case of real estate, the property rates or gains have gone up in the past 10 years substantially. Now, compare your indexation with the new regime in the past 10 years. Suppose you bought a property in 2014, and you are selling it in 2024-25. The benefit of indexation would be only 1.5 times.

“So, consider if the property is some X, the index cost of the evaluation will be 1.5 times...in 10 years, it will only be going up by 1.5 times,” he noted.

Now, we (CBDT and Income-Tax department) have done some calculations and found that if the property rate has gone up by three times in 10 years, the new tax regime (as announced in the Budget) is beneficial, the CBDT chairman said.

Effectively, Agrawal said, the obligation of tax is less (in the new regime).

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading a “creaky, shaky, and vulnerable” coalition government that looked after the interests of only two states in the Budget, ignoring all other citizens in the country.

Participating in the discussion on Budget 2024-25, he said the Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is “anti-people” and aimed at “appeasing and compensating” coalition partners of the ruling NDA.

“The Budget has no vision and agenda. There is no relief to the common people and the Budget has neglected 140 crore people of the country,” he said in a hard-hitting speech amid repeated disruption by a few BJP members from West Bengal.

Banerjee claimed the 2024 general elections’ results are a rejection of “arrogance and divisive politics” of the BJP.

He said everything in the third term of the Modi government remained same with ministers retaining the same portfolios except that the number of “cheer leaders” of the ruling party has gone down, which is a big change.

It is a “creaky, shaky, and vulnerable” coalition government that will explode soon, he claimed.

The TMC MP said he will expand the word “BUDGET” as B for betrayal, U for unemployment, D for deprived, G for guarantees which were failed by the government, E for eccentric decisions and T for tragedies.

He said the NDA government has allegedly betrayed the citizens, farmers, housewives, daily wage earners and many others during its rule.

Banerjee said prices of essential commodities have gone up, household savings have plummeted and debts have gone up.

“It is a betrayal of the marginalised communities,” he alleged.

He claimed that BJP does not have a single Muslim MP in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and any of the state Assemblies which showed the party lacked diversity.

The TMC leader claimed that the BJP has “failed to keep the promise” to provide 2 crore jobs to youths as the problem has gone up manifold.

Banerjee said the Modi government has “deprived” West Bengal and other parts of the country from various benefits, including MNERGA and housing scheme.

“Since you have failed the defeat us politically in West Bengal, you are now conspiring against the people of the state,” he alleged.

He claimed that the guarantees given by the central government has not fulfilled and that include fight against black money, terrorism, providing free houses to poor.

Banerjee claimed “eccentric decisions” taken by the government like the “unplanned lockdown”, farms laws and demonetisation led to deaths, loss of jobs and economic despair among others.

He claimed that the budget failed to mention many “tragedies” like the ethnic violence in Manipur.

NEET aspirants in the coaching hub of Kota in Rajasthan have termed the Budget a “disappointment” as no relief was announced in the 18 per cent GST on coaching fees even as they demanded that education loans should be interest-free.

“Education is a right, there should be no tax on it,” Vaishnavi, a NEET aspirant from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, told news agency PTI.

“If the GST on coaching fees was reduced, it could have relieved financial pressure on our parents but it's a disappointment that no such announcement was made,” she added.

Vaishnavi, however, appreciated the reduction in interest rates on education loans, saying it would help students from poor financial backgrounds.

“The 3 per cent interest reduction on education will be helpful for students who cannot afford to pay high fees,” she said.

Another NEET aspirant, Mahendra Solanki from Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, also expressed dissatisfaction over the Budget’s lower allocation for education and the continued GST on coaching fees.

He echoed Vaishnavi’s sentiments, saying that “education is a right and education loans should be interest-free”. The students said they were expecting some funds to be allocated in the Budget to strengthen examination agencies to ensure fair and scam-free exams but that too did not happen.

Sushil Kumar, a private company employee and parent of a coaching student, termed the Budget “not very fulfilling”. “We expected a lot from the third Budget presented by the Narendra Modi-led government but there is nothing that we can say is very fulfilling. Even the exemption in tax slab is not going to bring any big change. There is no relief for the middle-class in the Budget,” Kumar told PTI.

Karnataka DyCM DK Shivakumar on Wednesday defended the Congress government’s decision to boycott the July 27 meeting of the NITI Aayog, saying the state has got a raw deal in the Union Budget and its interests have not been protected.

CM Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday the decision was taken as a mark of protest against the “neglect” of the state’s demands in the Union Budget.

“What is the point of attending NITI Aayog meeting when it doesn’t have ‘neeti’? Karnataka has got a raw deal in the Union Budget. The State has not got any projects and its interests have not been protected. We have decided to boycott the NITI Aayog meeting and stage a protest instead,” Shivakumar told reporters.

Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday that despite his earnest efforts in calling for an all-party meeting of MPs in New Delhi to discuss Karnataka’s essential needs, the Union Budget has neglected the state’s demands.

“Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who attended the meeting, has ignored the concerns of the people of Karnataka. We don’t feel Kannadigas are heard, and hence there is no point in attending the NITI Aayog meeting,” the CM had said.