5.1% ● FISCAL DEFICIT of GDP in FY25 against 5.8% in FY24 (RE), with a tight budget 11.1 trn ` LUCKNOW, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2024 ● CAPITAL EXPENDITURE growth lower than trend, signals reliance on private investments 11.5% FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE ● GROSS TAX REVENUE growth in FY25, with buoyancy of 1.1, against 1.4 in FY24 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM READ TO LEAD VOL 17 NO. 51, 60 PAGES, `12.00 P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E SENSEX: 71,645.31 ▼ 106.80 NIFTY: 21,697.45 ▼ 28.25 NIKKEI 225: 36,011.46 ▼ 275.25 HANG SENG: 15,566.21 ▲ 81.14 `/$: 82.98 ▲ 0.06 `/€: 89.60 ▲ 0.28 BRENT: $81.38 ▲ $0.83 GOLD: `62,505 ▼ `86 Vote for fiscal prudence ● No big giveaways in election-year Budget ● Push for rural housing KG NARENDRANATH T BUDGET BLESSING: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman (left) receives a spoonful of dahi-cheeni (curd-sugar) from President Droupadi Murmu, before heading to Parliament to present the interim Budget onThursday PTI HE INTERIM BUDGET on Thursday shunned populism and stuck to fiscal consolidation more steadfastly than the markets expected, in a sign that the Narendra Modi government is profoundly confident of being re-elected for a third term. The benchmark bond yield curve shifted down to close at over-a-six month lowof 7.06%, on news that the net supply of government bonds next year will be `11.75 trillion, a trifle lower than in the current year. The BSE Sensex,however,ended 0.15% lower. After pump-priming the economy for several years with aggressive public investments, the government now expects the private sector to do the heavy lifting. The pace of budgetary capex growth has been slowed to 17% in FY25, from 28% in FY24 and 25% in FY23. However, the Budget ● 15% tax on new manufacturing units ends INTERIM BUDGET 2024 desisted from giving any more stimulus to private investors, other than the higher credit supplies facilitated by the tight budget. Even the 15% concessional corporate tax rate for “new manufacturing units” announced in FY20 would be out of bounds for units signing up after March 31, 2024. What this implies is the government doesn’t intend to alter the strategyoftreating investments as the harbinger of growth, though there isn’t sufficient proof yet of a broad-based private capex cycle. The Budget lacked any new tax concessions or expensive dole-outs. The restraint was at oddswiththegroundrealities— private consumption expenditure is seen to grow at just 4.4% onyearin FY24,the slowest rate since FY03, and the rural demand has remained tepid for long, with no rise in real income levels. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined the Modi government’s long-term vision for Viksit Bharat@2047, and announced the intent to launch a slew of schemes, in assorted areas, including in railway and agriculture infrastructure, and green energy,but didn’t provide outlays formost in FY25,except for a rooftop solar scheme. She also sought to provide a new dimension to economic policymaking, by defining the GDP as “Governance, Development and Performance”, and termed the country’s worldclass digital infrastructure as “a new factor of production”for the 21st century. Continued on Page 11 KEY NUMBERS ● Budget size ` trillion FY22 FY23 FY24 (RE) FY25 (BE) % of GDP 37.9 41.9 44.9 47.7 ● Gross tax collections ` trillion 40 30 20 10 0 Tax-to-GDP (%, RHS) 11.5 11.2 11.6 11.7 27.1 30.5 34.4 38.3 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 (RE) (BE) MARKETS ELECTIONS GUIDE TO FULL BUDGET, SAYS FM ■ P3 GOOD NEWS FOR BOND MARKET ■ P9 ‘GOLDEN ERA’ TAX BENEFITS PROMISE FOR FOR MORE THE YOUTH ■ P6 STARTUPS ■ P2 REVENUE INFRA % chg, y-o-y ` trillion FY22 FY23 FY24 (RE) FY25 (BE) 4.5 5.3 4.1 3.8 Source: Budget documents OPINION PUSH FOR CLEAN, GREEN ECONOMY ■ P8 12.0 11.5 11.0 10.5 10.0 ● Major subsidies I N S I D E TOP VIEW 16.2 15.4 15.1 14.5 BUDGET WALKS THE TALK ■ P10 IN OTHER NEWS BYJU’S INVESTORS SEEK BOARD REJIG, RAVEENDRAN’S EXIT KEY INVESTORS of troubled edtech major Byju’s have issued a notice convening an EGM to seek a leadership change, including the ouster of founder & CEO Byju Raveendran, reports Anees Hussain. The investors include Prosus, Peak XV, Sofina, Lightspeed, and General Atlantic. ■ PAGE 14 RELIANCE SETTO GET 60% STAKE IN DISNEY INDIA THE WALT Disney Company has agreed to sell 60% of its shareholding in its India business — Disney Star — to Reliancebacked Viacom18, as the two seek to merge their operations, according to the Wall Street Journal, reports Viveat Susan Pinto. ■ PAGE 14 RBI CURBS: PAYTM DOWN 20%; SPEED BUMP, SAYS SHARMA A DAY after RBI barred Paytm Payments Bank from taking deposits and doing credit transactions, the stock of Paytm parent One97 Communications fell 20% to hit its lower circuit limit, reports Ajay Ramanathan. “On behalf of Paytm, this is more of a speed bump...” founder & CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma said. ■ PAGE 14 Lucknow -37.0 19.0 -22.1 -7.8