What Budget 2024 means for taxpayers, consumers and investors

Policy changes feature reduced gold customs duty, tax benefits for salaried individuals, job incentives, simplified FDI rules, fiscal consolidation, higher capital gains tax, costlier futures trading, and increased gold/real estate tax. Highlights...

By ET Bureau | Updated: Jul 24, 2024, 11.03 AM IST

The Union Budget 2024 presented by Nirmala Sitharaman for record-seventh time aimed to maintain its fiscal prudence approach along with introducing a host of measures for the taxpayers and investors.

Consumers, taxpayers:

Gold jewellery to get cheaper as customs duty cut to 6%, from 15%
High-end mobiles cheaper, but TCS levy to make luxury goods expensive
Salaried individuals gain up to Rs 17,500 from tax slab changes and higher standard deduction

Economy

Boost to jobcreation with 3 employment-linked incentive schemes
FDI & overseas investment rules to be simplified to attract foreign inflows
Continuing fiscal consolidation to help maintain macro balance, while meeting capex needs

Investors, markets

Equity investors face higher CGT — 12.5% long-term and 20% short-term
Futures andoptions trading costlieras securities transaction tax raised
Effective capital gains tax on gold and real estate increases as indexation benefit removed

Business

Improved ease of doing business at state level through incentives
Comprehensive package as well as schemes for MSMEs, manufacturing
Rs 11.1-lakh crore capital budget; viability gap funding to attract private investment in infra