New Delhi:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is ready to present the budget of 2025-26, and all eyes are especially on relief by getting middle class. This time the budget will also be paperless like the last three years. The Finance Minister had changed the way to present budget documents using traditional books in 2019, and this time it is also expected that the government will present the budget in a new way.
This will be the second budget of Modi 3.0 government, which will decide the direction of development of the country for the upcoming financial year.
Fiscal deficit:
The fiscal deficit in the current financial year 2024-25 budget is estimated to be 4.9 percent of GDP (GDP). In the budget of 2025-26, the market will be closely monitored on the loss figures.
Capital Expenditure:
For the current financial year, the government had fixed a capital expenditure of Rs 11.1 lakh crore. Although government spending was slowed due to Lok Sabha elections, but in 2025-26 it is expected that the speed of capital expenditure will continue.
Debt Situation:
In the budget speech of 2024-25, the Finance Minister said that the fiscal deficit would be reduced continuously as a percentage of GDP from 2026-27. This time the loan consolidation of the market will also be monitored. The general government loan-GDP ratio in 2024 was 85 percent, of which the debt of the central government is 57 percent.
Borrowing:
The government had fixed the gross borrowing of Rs 14.01 lakh crore in the budget of FY 2024-25. In 2025-26, the borrowing numbers will be seen by the market, as the government borrows from the market to make up for its fiscal deficit.
Tax Revenue:
In the budget of 2024-25, the gross tax revenue was estimated at Rs 38.40 lakh crore, which was 11.72 percent more than 2023-24. This included revenue of Rs 22.07 lakh crore from direct tax and Rs 16.33 lakh crore from indirect tax.
GST (GST):
In the budget of 2024-25, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection was estimated to increase by 11 percent to Rs 10.62 lakh crore. GST revenue will be monitored in the budget of 2025-26, because its growth has been slow in the last three months.
GDP (GDP):
India’s GDP growth in the current financial year is estimated to be 10.5 percent, with the actual GDP to be 6.4 percent.
The market will also keep an eye on the income of dividends from other schemes of the government, such as RBI and public sector undertakings on this year’s budget.