Daily Voice | Government may provide tax relief to middle class in Budget 2023

moneycontrol.com:

Since salaried employees are an important source of revenue and this is the last budget before elections, the finance minister may provide relief to the middle-class by increasing the exemption limit and incentivise investments, feels Anil Rego of Right Horizons.

In an interview with Moneycontrol, the founder and fund manager of the company also said that the government is expected to scale down the disinvestment target to around Rs 40,000 crore for FY24 since it is challenging to divest stakes in the public sector undertakings and the last sale in 2022 did not meet the expectations.

Rego, who is also a chartered financial analyst, feels that China and India are expected to be the fastest-growing markets in 2023; and in India, companies with domestic exposure are better investment opportunities in 2023. Edited excerpts:

What are the key focus areas in the Budget 2023? Also, do you think this budget assumes a great significance considering the general elections next year and several states elections this year?

The government is committed to introducing and implementing reforms and making it easier for companies to do business. We expect the government to take initiatives with a focus towards making India self-sufficient and, as a result promoting investments in infrastructure and the private sector.

Since salaried employees are an important source of revenue and it is the last budget before elections, the government will likely provide relief to the middle-class by increasing the exemption limit and incentivising savings and investments.

The government will likely continue its focus on the disinvestment target, bring pace to PSU privatisation, deepen corporate bond markets for the financing infrastructure plan, and benefits