Central budget for the financial year 2017-18 was presented by the union finance minister, Arun Jaitley in parliament yesterday. Ever since the budget was announced, there have been different views coming in from different people. Opposition is calling it a below average budget, at the same time, startup world is welcoming the announcements. The lower-middle class is all in praise for the government, whereas middle and upper class people are not so happy with the same.
With all the above points, one more thing which has been making rounds is the focus of government on digitalisation and elimination of cash transactions. Finance minister discussed his roadmap of making India a country free from cash transactions in the coming years and he did announce his plans to do so. The government is a lot focused on payments apps like BHIM and Aadhar Pay, which might become the go-to payment option for a larger section of society in the coming time. Eliminating excise duty on import of PoS and other equipment used in digital transactions is also a welcome move by the merchants.
N Chandrasekaran, the newly appointed Chairman of Tata Sons was all in praise for the budget. Calling it a historic announcement, he hailed the transformative reforms presented by the current government. According to him, transformation starts from identifying the challenges and the government has been successful in identifying major challenges like rural economy, employment for the youth, ease of doing business and digitalisaition. The government is working with a systematic plan to make the economy more efficient and dynamic with the initiatives.
Government of India continues to focus on initiatives which will make digital as the go-to way of payments. Use of digital ways will make economy more transparent and help to bring it in a formal framework.
Data provided by the banks post demonetization move will also help the government to analyze the number of individuals falling in the taxation slabs and to take required actions accordingly. It will help bring tax administration reforms to enforce tax compliance in the near future.