Budget 2023: A latest survey has highlighted that 26% people believe that the finance minister should lower personal income tax rates in the upcoming budget by 5%. In addition, 25% want the exemption limit to be raised beyond 2.5 lakh.
The pre-budget report by Axis My India highlighted that reduction in price of essentials is the biggest expectation from the budget 2023. One of the major requests which comes out in this survey is reduction in income tax rates, which will give consumers more money in hand.
The consumer data intelligence company, released its latest findings of the India Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI), a monthly analysis of consumer perception on a wide range of issues.
The sentiment analysis delved into five relevant sub-indices – Overall household spending, spending on essential and non-essential items, spending on healthcare, media consumption habits, entertainment and tourism trends.
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22% people consider ‘oil prices’ to significantly impact the Indian economy this year. Moreover 16% each consider ‘inflation’ and ‘upcoming 2024 elections’ to also have a bearing this year on the economy. Government policies and Russia-Ukraine war continue to be the concern for 14% and 11% respectively.
The CSI survey said that a majority of 73% feels that the budget needs to address ‘reduction in prices of essential items like soap, detergent, cooking oil’. 54% believe that it should also look into GST exemption on essential items.
44% of people want a reduction in GST % and 32% want housing loan exemption limits to be re-looked at.
Pradeep Gupta, chairman and MD, Axis My India, said, “Consumers are looking forward to the upcoming budget announcements as a ray of hope for better life and livelihood and there is a huge expectation in terms of price control. Consumers are also looking forward towards various measures that the government will take towards fuelling digitisation in the Indian economy. Overall, despite global headwinds the Indian economy should be poised for further growth in 2023.”
The survey also threw light on factors that will help digitisation in the Indian economy. Better banking network (view of 32%), better spread of telecom connectivity and 5G (view of 19%) and better Internet security (view of 18%) are considered important pillars of digitisation.
According to the survey overall household spending has increased for 59% of families, increased by 4% compared to last month.
Expenses towards health-related items such as vitamins, tests, and healthy food has surged for 33% of the families. This reflects a decrease in consumption by 6% from last month.
The survey was carried out via computer-aided telephonic interviews with a sample size of 6100 people across 27 states and UTs. 65% belonged to rural India, while 35% belonged to urban counterparts. In terms of regional spread, 23% belong to the northern parts while 27% belong to the eastern parts of India. Moreover, 28% and 22% belonged to western and southern parts of India respectively. 69% of the respondents were male, while 31% were female.
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