India’s first woman Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present this year’s Union Budget on July 5. This apparently would be her first major assignment ever since her appointment to finance ministry.

As usual, the government is expected to come out with fresh policies and amendments to existing schemes, impacting farmers to the middle class, entrepreneurs, professionals and corporates.

Investors have high hopes from the new government’s maiden budget against the backdrop of a strong election mandate.

Following are the pre-budget expectations of the FMCG and retail sector:

The market is hoping for income support schemes across the board to boost overall consumption. More money in the hands of consumers is a positive for the industry as it would help spur demand. Tax benefits for the middle-class consumers will also help increase discretionary spends.

A long-standing demand for the sector has been a reduction of the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, without any turnover criteria.

The Retailers Association of India has also made some recommendations on behalf of the retail industry. The expectations are that the threshold for the 5 percent slab for apparels should be increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per garment.

First Published:Jul 4, 2019 10:17 AM IST