Budget 2022 – All eyes are on the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she gears to deliver the budget for the year. Given that the pandemic continues to rage, a lot of people believe that this year too, there will be a special emphasis on the healthcare sector.
Many will recollect that in the Union Budget 2021 the government had announced its six pillars and the paramount spot was given to the healthcare sector. This year is expected to be no different. While the immunisation plan has achieved great success, but the pandemic is far from over. The virus continues to mutate posing to be a big threat to the lives of people and the overall economy. Fortunately, the third wave has not done as much damage to the economy as done by the delta variant. However, over the course of the last two years, the economic growth has been a little muted. It is expected that the government will lay a lot of emphasis on aiding a faster recovery and announce measures that will help in creating more jobs.
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With five states, including UP, Uttrakhand and Punjab slated to have elections in the next few days, one can expect this to be a populist budget. It is certain that the government will look at targeting the voters in the state through the upcoming budget.
The travel and tourism sector has been impacted adversely due to the pandemic. The sector is expecting some relief from the government in order to get back on its feet. However, we feel that this segment will not get the eyeballs in the budget 2022.
The real estate sector defied all odds and started showing some recovery in 2021. However, the sector is now facing a new challenge in the form of the rising price of raw materials. The prices of cement, steel and iron have increased multiple folds and threatening to thwart the growth in this segment. The sector expects the government to address this concern in the upcoming budget. One will have to wait and see if the FM gives this sector the attention it deserves.
In the past, the government has been making a lot of right noises around the EV ecosystem and startup culture in the country. We expect that there will be a significant announcement in regards to these two sectors in the budget of 2022.
Another major expectation that people have from the budget is that there might be a little alteration in the tax slab that will help in boosting the sentiment.
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Overall, it is expected to be a budget that focuses on health, infrastructure and job creation. Will the government increase the allocation of the healthcare sector to 3% of the GDP? Will they announce reforms that will pave way for the next phase of growth? We will get answers to all these and more only tomorrow when Budget 22-23 will be presented in the parliament.
