Banks to see higher deposits

Hyderabad: The revision in income tax rates will increase the purchasing power of the middle class sections of the society and thus, push the economic growth of the country in the long run, Kolkata-headquartered Bandhan Bank's founder, Managing Director and Chief Executive Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said.

He also said that the income tax exemption will also indirectly help the banking sector on the deposits side. "Excess money in hand will prompt people to go for additional savings and this will improve the deposit side of the banks which is in a difficult shape now," the Bandhan Bank CEO said.

Abheek Barua, Chief Economist, HDFC Bank, said: "The budget recognised that it would have to continue playing the lead role in driving investments in the economy given the rising global risks and only a nascent recovery in the private capex cycle. The capital outlay for 2023-24 was raised to Rs 10 lakh crore, a rise of 33 per cent year on year."

The budget also pays heed to the need for fiscal consolidation reducing its fiscal deficit target to 5.9 per cent of GDP in 2023-24 from 6.4 per cent in 2022-23. The resultant lower than expected market borrowing number is likely to bring some relief for the bond market. We see the 10-year bond yield to moderate towards 7-7.1 per cent in FY24.

Uday Kotak CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank says: "Budget with vision, structure, and discipline, it immediate benefits to all individual earners. Continues measured path of fiscal consolidation. It sets foundation to increase every Indian's per capita income exponentially from Rs 1.97 lakh. True to its name, this is the first budget for Amritkaal."

Umesh Revankar, Executive Vice Chairman, Shriram Finance, said: "The Budget has checked all the boxes – from consumption to capex to spending to middle class to industry. The income tax benefits will boost purchasing power for middle-class consumers. It's a capex-heavy budget, with an announced 33 per cent increase in capex, which will boost infrastructure, logistics and the transportation business."

He adds, "The government's focus on ease of doing business and the expanded corpus for the credit guarantee will mean MSMEs have a lot to gain from this budget. Agriculture and rural development have been given detailed attention which should boost the rural economy and consumption. It will trigger a pick-up in credit off take for SMEs, the 2-wheeler business and lending to transportation".