Certified Financial Planner Gaurav Mashruwala tells you what to do and what not to do before the budget. Our experts also tell you what a student can expect or wish for from this budget.
Name: Priyanka Naik Age: 21 What are you studying? Journalism What do you want: A HP Compaq 6515b laptop. How much does it cost: Rs 56,000
What Priyanka should do now to plan her money better? Gaurav Mashruwala advises: You could wait for the budget because if the Finance Minister announces sops for IT, this could bring down the prices of personal computer/laptop.
What experts expect from the budget for Priyanka? Financial advisor Sanjay Matai says... The rising interest rates have slowed down the growth in certain interest-sensitive sectors such as auto, real estate, consumer durables, etc. In fact, in the consumer durables sector the growth has been negative. This slow down has been a worry for the Government. While it may not be possible to reduce the interest rates in the immediate future to prime-up these sectors, the Government could rationalise some of the indirect taxes such as excise, value added tax (VAT), etc. to give some relief to such sectors, especially the consumer durables.
Hence, people looking to buy television set, refrigerator, bike, etc. could possibly wait till the budget. The chances of any increase in rates are anyway quite remote.
Kamal Aggarwal of Ernst & Young says... The budget would not dramatically alter the Customs and Excise duty landscape in respect of consumer goods.
Loan expert Harsh Roongta says... The already announced education refinance corporation (funded from the education cess that we pay) should be operationalised. This corporation can share risks with the commercial banks as well as provide refinance at rates that can make educational loans as profitable as any other loan business for the banks.
An official mechanism needs to be in place for grading various education courses (based on their ability to increase employability, earnings potential, etc). With this the banks will be able to objectively assess the risk of providing loans for funding a specific course.
A complete revamp of the education loan sector is vital. Today, education loans are essentially being disbursed mainly by the public sector banks because of administrative fiat and not because it makes commercial sense for the banks.
Many students can't take an education loan because they have no collateral or their parents don't have enough income to be a guarantor. While this may not affect students who try for the IITs or the IIMs, a vast majority of students are affected by this lack of access to education loans.
