Finally, breathing a sigh of relief.
This is massive. I think this is a super budget. It is a lot more than what we could have bargained for. It is a super duper. In my words, tod-fod budget. I think it is a very responsible progressive budget, lowering taxes for all sections. I think it is a big move. I think this is a big move in terms of taking India forward. The initiatives on technology, digital, setting up centers of excellence for artificial intelligence, I mean look at the whole narrative of the budget.
A budget 10 years back, a budget now and a budget which is now really looking ahead. Setting up physical and digital libraries for children in villages. I think this is massive. This is not about setting up physical infrastructure. It is about setting up intellectual infrastructure for the future. This is making India a much more stronger and a modern economy. And this I think is the big takeaway of this budget.
For the first time, in the longest time you and me have tracked Budget. You have seen the aggregate tax rate for HNI and ultra HNI go down. Normally it is always that the rich are earning more, tax them more because you need more money. So this time around even though this is about 1.5 year away from the election cycle, this is first time the aggregate tax rate has come down. Just shows the mindset of the government in terms of how confident they are about the bend of the economy and about revenue buoyancy because fiscal deficit if it comes down and if assumptions are normal that means the government is very optimistic about where they feel the tax collections are moving. Would you agree with me? Is that the main crux of this budget?
Absolutely. I mean, absolutely. I think it clearly shows a lot of conviction and boldness on the part of the government. To assume that yearly taxes are going to keep rising and they will lower taxes and still have higher taxes which means that the government seems to be very confident on growth which I think is a huge message to investors and to markets and to business and enterprises.
If you are spending more and if you are giving more money in the hand of taxpayer, that means there is a word which we always fear will come back. Guess that word; inflation. You will stoke inflation because of this, when the world is struggling with inflation. Indirectly, this in a sense could stoke inflation?
No, I do not think so. This will not stoke inflation. I think inflation is more dependent on global factors. It is going to be the prices of crude, commodities, coal, those are some of the things which are going to drive inflation. I do not think lowering taxes and leaving more money in the hands of consumers is in any way going to stoke inflation. I think the bigger issue to address is essentially to revive demand. Demand which is turning a little subdued I think these initiatives of the budget will revive consumer demand. And I think that is going to be the big takeaway of this budget. It is not going to be inflation.
All about banks. I know you are also like just looking at the list all about banks is not it?
It is actually one of the easiest way to kind of participate. I mean if you really like the budget, you want to go positive, you are a trader the best way is just hop onto the Bank Nifty and try and write this up move. But more medium to longer term, banks obviously are a reflection of the economy. I think what this budget does is in a way fires up the economy again. It actually lifts it and so to that extent over the medium to long term banks will benefit out of that. So undoubtedly, I think a great budget and a great reaction from the market.
