Before the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget in the Parliament on February 1, 2021.
Here’s what the Brokerage Industry expects from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman:
Tejas Khoday, Co-founder and CEO, FYERS:
“With an economy that is gradually reviving from a Covid-induced slump, investors and citizens at large will be eager to watch the policy measures proposed by the finance minister, both at home and abroad.
At an individual level, given the unwarranted effect of COVID on the salaried incomes, taxpayers would be relieved to be awarded an upgrade in the personal income tax slabs.
That said, given the fiscal situation and the state of direct tax collections, it remains to be seen whether such a relief measure would be possible by the government.
On the stock market front, a lot of regulatory changes were announced by the SEBI over the last few months, to reduce systemic risks within the broking industry and to bring in additional transparency.
While most stakeholders are acclimatizing to these new regulatory changes, the FM can extend support by certain measures, putting the investment and broking community on a strong footing. A few proposals that can bring cheer to retail investors are:
Abolishing the much-criticized Long-Term Capital Gains (LTCG) tax. This would be a welcome move. A widely discussed point of note is redefining the concept of Long Term to 2 years and the change of taxation to Zero. This would also be a welcome move, as it can bring stability to the duration of investments across financial assets.
Reduction in the quantum of Securities Transaction Tax (STT) / Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT), which has been a long pending wish from one and all These are critical points of note and any relief in one or both of these proposals would go a long way in boosting the investment spirit of all investors – retail, institutional, Indian as well as global.”
