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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

India unveils budget for economic recovery

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NEW DELHI: India unveiled a budget on Wednesday to help the poor with hikes in government spending and cuts in taxes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks to win back the sympathy of voters hit hard by his recent crackdown on “black money”.


Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced increases in spending on rural areas, infrastructure and fighting poverty, and sought to assure lawmakers and the country that the economic impact of the government’s cash crackdown would wear off soon.


Jaitley halved the basic personal income tax rate, and cut taxes on small firms that account for 96 per cent of India’s businesses, while imposing an income-tax surcharge on the better off.


“It’s an election budget, to all intents and purposes, with a massive push on rural spending and some quite big tax cuts,” said Shilan Shah, India economist at Capital Economics in Singapore. 


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