IN THE INTERIM

In keeping with the convention, the Finance Minister announced no changes to the tax slabs or rates. All eyes are now on the upcoming general elections and the Union Budget later this year

- Nidhi Sinha

Over the last month, we have read a host of wish lists from Union Minister Of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman's Interim Budget from various sectors and industries. These wish lists came even though Interim Budgets, which are announced a few months before the general elections and are meant to cover the transition period between the current and new governments, are typically non-events.

Instead of making new announcements, an Interim Budget merely recaps major decisions taken by the present government over the last five years. Any new announcements could be seen as a populist move just before the elections. In keeping with the convention, Sitharaman also announced no changes to the tax slabs or rates; neither did she introduce any welfare schemes, in the Interim Budget tabled on February 1, 2024. "Being a vote on account, no major changes were expected in the tax rates. All hopes are pinned to the Budget post elections," says Divya Baweja, partner, Deloitte India.

The Continuity

Though no changes were made to the tax slabs, rates or schemes, taxpayers have found a mention, at least in the past three Interim Budgets, including the current one. In the 2014 Interim Budget, then finance minister P. Chidamabaram raised taxpayers hopes for a simplified tax regime when he mentioned the readying of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC). "We have also got ready a Direct Taxes Code that will serve us for at least the next 20 years. I intend to place it on the website for a public discussion without partisanship or acrimony. I appeal to all political parties to resolve to pass the GST laws and the DTC in 2014-15," he said.