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Benchmark indices ended higher but off day’s high with Nifty ended near 10,900 level post Interim Budget presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.
The Sensex was up 212.74 points at 36469.43, while Nifty was up 62.70 points at 10893.70. About 1189 shares have advanced, 1323 shares declined, and 137 shares are unchanged.
After opening higher, the benchmark indices — Sensex and Nifty –extended gains in the afternoon trade amid the Budget session.
In a major boost to middle-class taxpayers, the Narendra Modi-led government has announced full income tax rebate for income up to Rs 5 lakh. The income tax exemption limit has been doubled to Rs 5 lakh. The move is expected to benefit up to 3 crore taxpayers. The Sensex has moved up more than 400 points to 36,660.54, while the Nifty is trading above the 10,950-mark. The standard deduction for the salaried class has been revised to Rs 50,000 from Rs 40,000 earlier. Further, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said that he is confident of crossing divestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for FY19.
Shares of defence related scrips BEL and Hindustan Aeronautics gained in trade on Friday afternoon, after FM Piyush Goyal announced that the Defence Budget for FY20 has been increased to Rs 3 lakh crore. Bharat Electronics share are trading 2.3% higher at Rs 85.60. Hindustan Aeronautics shares gained by more than 2% to Rs 725 after the announcement.
As this will be a year of General Elections, an interim Budget will be presented instead of the usual full-fledged. An interim Budget is a complete set of accounts which includes both expenditure and receipts of the government.
The central government has done away with the practice of presenting a separate budget for Indian Railways. Railway Budget 2019 will be presented as a part of the Union Budget.
