While the stock market voted down the budget, there were some announcements in that budget speech that will open up new frontiers for India’s burgeoning economy. Let us look at some of them and how they are likely to usher a few sunrise sectors that will not just create jobs but also help double the size of the economy – from the current US$2.61 trillion to US$5 trillion by 2024-25.

Last week, India’s first female finance minister in almost five decades, Nirmala Sitharaman presented the 2019 Union Budget after the BJP-led NDA Government won the elections with a thumping majority in May, this year. The budget did not have much of good news for investors, companies and stock markets – on the contrary, few of the budget proposals, spooked the stock market, leading to the S&P BSE Sensex posting its worst single day fall of 2019, plummeting by 908 points to touch an intraday low of 38,605.

The announcements made in Union Budget 2019 came as a welcome sign for consumers and manufacturers of electric vehicles, alike. The electric vehicle industry in India has unanimously welcomed the government’s proposed tax benefits for electric vehicles, with expectations of a major boost in the coming years. In addition to lowering the GST rates on electric vehicles from 12% to 5%, the government has also announced exemptions on customs duty on lithium-ion cells.

On 5th July, 2019 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her maiden Union Budget. With the current economic slowdown in the country, this budget would be critically important for the newly-elected government which is still fresh from a landslide victory in the General Elections. Interim Budget 2019 was a welcome budget for the individual taxpayer and for the housing sector and it will be interesting to see the government’s focus areas/sectors in the upcoming budget.