Budget 2023 Countdown LIVE News Updates: What Is In Store For Common Man?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday extended the deadline  till December-end for banks to enter into revised agreements with safe deposit locker holders as a large number of customers are yet to do so. In August 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked banks to enter into revised agreements with the existing locker holders by January 1, 2023, in view of various developments in the area of banking and technology, nature of consumer grievances and also the feedback received.

The government is expected provide a more rationalised TDS framework to reduce the compliance burden for taxpayers, besides a revamped new concessional tax regime by providing additional benefits like standard deduction, EY said. Read more

Food aggregator Zomato has paused a 10-minute food delivery service and it will pivot to a different model, CNBC-TV18 reported quoting sources. In March 2022, Zomato had announced the 10-minute food delivery service called ‘Zomato Instant’.

Zomato in March had said the company will fulfil quick deliveries out of a “finishing stations’ network” located in close proximity to high-demand customer neighbourhoods. The company in March also said its 10-Minute Delivery system was on track in Gurugram.

Ahead of its merger with Tata-owned Air India, Gurugram-based Vistara on Monday reported that it crossed the $1 billion revenue mark and remained EBITDA positive in the current fiscal year. The airline also reported break even for the first time in October-December quarter.

The airline did not disclose the profit figure, but said that it excluded unrealised foreign exchange loss. On a year-on-year basis Vistara said it grew its capacity and passenger traffic by 37 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively, in the third quarter.

Axis Bank on Monday posted a 62 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in its net profit to Rs 5,853 crore in the October-December 2022 quarter (Q3 FY23). Sequentially, the lender has posted a 10 per cent increase. The bank’s net interest income (NII) grew 32 per cent YoY and 11 per cent QoQ to Rs 11,459 crore.

Axis Bank’s net interest margin (NIM) for Q3FY23 stood at 4.26 per cent, up 73 bps YoY and 30 bps QoQ. Read In Details: Here

Vistara reports first-ever quarterly profit since inception in Oct-Dec quarter; crossed the $1 billion revenue mark and remained EBITDA positive in the current fiscal year.

Bank of Baroda and CG Power are expected to be included in the MSCI global standard index and the announcement is likely to be made on February 10, 2023. The re-balancing could be from February 28, according to a report by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research. It added that Biocon could get excluded from the index.

Share price of FSN E-Commerce Ventures, the parent company of fashion and cosmetic retailer Nykaa, fell 5.11 per cent in Monday’s trade to hit their fresh one-year low. The stock today slipped to a 52-week low of Rs 120.75 over its previous close of Rs 127.25. What should investors do now?

Canara Bank on Monday reported a 92 per cent jump in profit to Rs 2,882 crore for the quarter ended December 2022 (Q3), helped by a rise in interest income and decline in bad loans.

Canara Bank’s net profit stood at Rs 1,502 crore in the same quarter of the preceding financial year. Total income increased to Rs 26,218 crore in the quarter from Rs 21,312 crore in the year-ago period, the state-owned bank said in a regulatory filing.

Even as the Union Budget 2023 is around the corner and is set to be announced on February 1 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, various sectors are being bullish and expecting measures to boost their businesses. Among the sectors, the insurance industry said like Section 80C and 80D, a separate section should be dedicated to insurance to improve the insurance penetration in India. It also expects the tax deduction limit for health insurance to increase to Rs 50,000, against Rs 25,000 currently.

Read In Details: Here

The food and beverages industry is looking forward with some measures for the sector. Experts have highlighted the contemporary needs and have made some suggestions to be incorporated in the Budget. Read more. Top quotes

E-commerce company Amazon has announced the launch of a dedicated air cargo network in India. These cities will receive first shipments. Read more

“The Indian real estate market has displayed resilience, and the upcoming Union Budget 2023-24 offers an opportunity to continue that stability and growth. Therefore, the government should extend further support by providing tax relief to homebuyers and consider reforming personal taxes such as reduced rates or modified tax brackets to foster more housing demand. To boost consumer buying sentiments further, the deduction cap on the principal amount of a home loan, which is currently set at Rs. 1.5 lakh p.a, should be increased to Rs. 4 lakh p.a,” said Kamal Khetan, chairman and managing director of Sunteck Realty.

He added that additionally, to encourage housing for all, the government should consider increasing the limit of a tax deduction on interest for a housing loan from Rs 2 lakh per annum to at least Rs 5 lakh per annum. Furthermore, for price stability and to mitigate the risk of rising raw material costs, the input tax credit on GST should be reinstated.

Gautam Thacker, chairman of NAREDCO Neral Karjat, said, “The Indian real estate sector is set to see robust growth in the coming decade. But to achieve this, there are many aspects that need support in terms of policy and implementation at the ground level. For the ‘affordable’ segment, we expect more support to ensure Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of ‘Housing for All’ becomes a reality. In locations that support industry which is ‘carbon neutral’, we expect the Budget to provide incentives, so that ‘policy decisions’ get implemented at ground level — which would translate into Job creation, effectively giving a boost to the economy of such regions — Neral Karjat being one such region.”

At a time when tech companies are laying off employees, Spotify Technology SA is also going to join the list of such companies as it is planning layoffs as soon as this week to cut costs, according to a Bloomberg report quoting people familiar with the plans. It added that the number of positions to be eliminated was not specified by the people.

Spotify has about 9,800 employees. In October, the music-streaming giant laid off 38 staff from its Gimlet Media and Parcast podcast studios.

Canara Bank on Monday reported 92 per cent jump in profit at Rs 2,882 crore for the quarter ended December 2022, helped by a rise in interest income and decline in bad loans. Its net profit stood at Rs 1,502 crore in the same quarter of the preceding financial year. Total income increased to Rs 26,218 crore in the quarter from Rs 21,312 crore in the year-ago period, the state-owned bank said in a regulatory filing. At the same time, interest income rose to Rs 22,231 crore as against Rs 17,701 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Dhruv Shringi, Co-Founder and CEO, Yatra Online Limited, said, “This budget is surely an opportunity for the government to take corrective measures to boost the overall health of travel and tourism industry. The main endeavour in the upcoming budget 2023 should be to increase disposable income in the hands of the consumer which can further be channelised to boost domestic travel and the numerous local ecosystems. Furthermore, we look forward to targeted incentives to boost foreign tourism in India, which is yet to realise its full potential. Considering foreign visitors have greater spending power, they have a more significant influence and impact on the industry as a whole. On the GST front, tourism services provided to the foreign nationals should be eligible for GST exemption along with bringing ATF under the GST ambit to provide relief to the airlines sector.”

While observing the rapid growth of electronic manufacturing in the country, Mandeep Arora, Co-founder and MD, UBON said, “Last year, there was an increase in electronics prices, especially smartphones, owing to the chip shortage and other COVID-19-induced factors. With duty concessions and domestic manufacturing boost, the prices of electronics slowly decreased and eventually helped boost the demand. This year, the government is expected to make significant progress toward making India a center for producing and exporting electrical devices. Incentify the export of consumer electronics products and a low GST percentage will motivate many Indian consumer electronics manufacturers.”

The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) has announced that it is ready with 4,000 affordable homes that will be up for sale through lottery in March 2023. Read more

The previous two Budgets were in the shadow of the pandemic and the FM had to make fiscal space for supporting the immediate needs of the country. However, with inflation and with post-pandemic recovery boosting tax revenues, it is expected that the central gross fiscal deficit will be contained at the target of 6.4% for this fiscal year. In the previous Budgets, the FM had opted for a longer fiscal consolidation path, with the gross fiscal deficit expected to pare down to 3.5% only by 2025. It is expected that the FM will continue with this path. Read More

Shares of cement companies were trading weak and fell up to 3 per cent on the BSE in Monday’s intra-day trade in an otherwise firm market on profit booking after the sector major UltraTech Cement reported its December quarter (Q3FY23) results.