Union Budget 2019: Which Sectors Gained and Which Sectors Lost Out?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her maiden budget on July 5, the first of the Modi 2.0 government. Like every year, this year’s Union Budget, too, had some clear winners and some unfortunate losers. Here are the sectors which gained and lost out:-

Budget Winners

Public sector banks

Shares of public sector banks were trading higher after Sitharaman announced that Rs 70,000 crore has been allocated for PSU bank recapitalisation in Union Budget 2019 in order to help public banks tackle bad debt and revive credit growth.

Infrastructure

Sitharaman announced that Rs 100 lakh crore will be invested in infrastructure in the next five years. Railway infrastructure would need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore between 2018 and 2030, she added. Sitharaman emphasized on a number of steps – from upgrading 125,000 km of rural roads to creating a national highways grid. She added that cargo movement on Ganga will increase four times in the coming four years.

Aviation, Insurance, media

Sitharaman said the government is considering a proposal to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in aviation, media, animation and insurance sectors. FDI will also be permitted for insurance intermediaries, Sitharaman added.

Affordable Housing sector

Sitharaman said the government has proposed an additional tax deduction of Rs 1.50 lakh on interest paid on home loans taken for affordable houses up to March 2020.

If buying a house of up to Rs 45 lakh, the home buyer will get deduction of Rs 3.5 lakh. Thus, if the home loan duration is say 15 years, the net gain can be as much as Rs 7 lakh for middle-class taxpayers.

Electric vehicles

Sitharaman proposed to provide an income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loan taken to buy electric vehicles. The Finance Minister also mentioned that the government has already moved Goods and Services Tax council to lower GST on electric vehicles from 12% to 5%. The government has already approved Rs 10,000 crore for FAME II scheme on April 1, 2019.

Budget Losers

Oil and gas marketing companies

Shares of BPCL, HPCL and IOC were down as the price of petrol and diesel will soon go up by Re 1 a litre after the finance ministry decided to impose a special additional excise duty on the two fuels in the Union Budget 2019.

Jewellery sector

Sitharaman said she has also proposed to increase custom duty on gold and other precious metals from 10% to 12.5%. Interestingly, this is the highest import duty rate on gold anywhere in the world.