Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021-22 in Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, where she announced that a central university will be set up in Ladakh, Rs 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccines and no change of Income Tax slabs. 

While at one hand Sitharaman announced different measures from sectors ranging from health, education, MSMEs, and Indian Railways, the Finance Minister did not mention the names of major sectors, including the Income Tax department and aviation sector.

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Here what was left untouched in Sitharaman’s Budget speech:

Income Tax: Sitharaman did not announce any changes in the income tax slabs while presenting the budget. Although, the Finance Minister said that the income tax return filers increased from 3.31 crore in 2014 to  6.48 crore in 2020. She also said that the serious tax offences of concealment of income of over Rs 50 lakh can be reopened after 10 years.

As of now, those earning up to Rs 2.5 lakh would be required to pay zero tax, those with an income of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh would be taxed at 5%; 10% for income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7.5 lakh. Those with income between Rs 7.5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh would be taxed at 15%.

There is a 20% tax for income between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 12.5 lakh, and 25% for income between Rs 12.5 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. Those with income above Rs 15 lakh would be taxed at the rate of 30%.

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Real Estate: The Finance Minister also barred the Real Estate sector from her Budget speech. The exception made for the Real Estate also came parallel to the measures taken by the central government last year to help the sector reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Centre set a Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) fund, a six-month moratorium on equated monthly installments and the restructuring of loans of real estate companies. The RBI also announced a major repo rate cut of 140 basis points over the course of time that led to the lowest home loan interest rates in more than 15 years.

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Defence: While, the Budget and the Budget speech by the Finance Minister had no mention of the Defence sector this time, last year, the he Centre allocated Rs 3.37 lakh crore for the defence expenditure, which was 1.5% of the GDP. There was a separate provision of Rs 1,33,000 crore for pensions, taking the total defence outlay in the 2020 Budget to Rs 4.71 crore.

The defense sector was expected to get a major boost from the Central government this time amid increasing threats on multiple fronts across India’s eastern borders by China, the most prominent of which is the military standoff in eastern Ladakh since May 5. 

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As part of the Rs 4.78 lakh crore announced for the defence sector, Rs 1.35 lakh crore is the capital outlay, and Rs 2.27 lakh crore is the revenue head. Additionally, Rs 1.15 lakh crore has been allocated for pensions.

Aviation: Having barely any mention in the Budget and in Sitharaman’s speech, the aviation sector also made into the list of sectors remaining untouched in Monday’s budget presentation, even though it is one of the worst-hit sectors by the pandemic. 

According to economic evaluations, the industry is expected to incur a loss of $350 billion. As newer strains of coronavirus are emerging in 2021, the scope of international flying is decreasing further.

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Entertainment: Among the worst-hit sectors by the pandemic, the entertainment sector was hoping to get some relief in the 2021-22 Union Budget. However, it was nowhere to be found in the Union Budget on Monday. The entertainment sector suffered a major loss after the outbreak of coronavirus after which the movie theatres were closed. However, now the Centre has allowed for the movie halls to reopen with full occupancy. 

Information
Technology: Information Technology being the biggest export services of India remained
unattended by the Finance Minister in the budget 2021-22. With COVID-19
pandemic catalyzing the usage and highlighting the dire need of reparation in
the IT infrastructure, there were no sops to address or boost the sector in the
future.

There
were no encouraging announcements to boost Information Technology area that can
provide mileage to prominent It firms like  Infosys Ltd, TCS Ltd., Wipro, HCL Technologies,
Tech Mahindra, along with mid-sized firms like LTI, Mindtree.

The exception of some sectors in Monday’s Budget also came to parallel to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark, where he said the Union Budget FY 2021-22 will be seen as a part of the chain which had ‘4-5 mini budgets’ during 2020.