The 30-share benchmark BSE Sensex has given positive returns to investors four times on the Budget day in the last six years.
On Thursday, when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the interim budget for 2024-25, also the last by the Modi government before the general polls, Sensex ended in the red. The benchmark has gained 20 per cent since the last year’s Budget day on February 1, 2023.
The BSE bellwether index ended in the positive territory on the Budget days in 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2019, as per an analysis. On Thursday, Sensex ended 106.81 points or 0.15 per cent lower at 71,645.30 in a volatile trade after the interim Budget presentation.
Earlier, the barometer had closed with a loss of 987.96 points or 2.42 per cent on February 1, 2020. Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in the Modi government’s last Budget before general elections.
Instead, she chose to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups. Presenting a vote on account or an interim Budget for 2024-25, Sitharaman proposed no changes in income tax rates for individuals and corporates, as well as import duty, but offered amnesty for disputed income tax demands of the period prior to 2014-15 as a relief to small taxpayers.
In her close to an hour-long Budget speech in the Lok Sabha, she listed her government’s achievements across sectors in the last 10 years and announced measures to boost tourism, housing and renewable energy. ”Normally in an election year, we generally see a populist budget. However, the finance minister has put the growth in clear perspective with prudence taking over populism in this Budget.
It outlines development that will be all-round, all-inclusive, and all-pervasive towards making India a Viksit Bharat by 2047. There has been no change in corporate and income tax rates. "In a nut shell interim Budget just ensures strong fiscal discipline and continuity of policies,” said Amisha Vora, Chairperson & Managing Director, Prabhudas Lilladher Group. Last year on the Budget day, the BSE benchmark ended at 59,708.08 points, up by 158.18 points, or 0.26 per cent. In 2022, the Sensex jumped 848.4 points or 1.46 per cent while in 2021, it rallied 2,314.84 points or 5 per cent after the Budget announcements."
This interim Budget the honourable finance minister has once again delivered a responsible, innovative and inclusive Budget. This Budget lays emphasis on fiscal products and gives room for private capital investment into the growth of India. ”Continuing with the trends of the last 10 years, the FM once again lays on the foundation for a very strong path for India with due focus on areas of national importance,” Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO, BSE, said.
In 2020, the BSE bechmark fell 987.96 points or 2.42 per cent and in the preceding year, it clocked a gain of 212.74 points or 0.58 per cent. The BSE benchmark reached its all-time high of 73,427.59 points on January 16, 2024. On Wednesday, a day before the Budget announcement, the BSE Sensex jumped 612.21 points or 0.86 per cent to settle at 71,752.11 points.
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