India's Budget woos voters with big healthcare plan

THE 2018 Budget presented by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Feb 1 has been variously panned as a "Please None Budget" and being "poorly thought out".

There are reasons for disappointment. Firstly, the vocal middle class did not get its expected income tax break. And on top of that, the government reintroduced a long-term capital-gains tax after a gap of 15 years. Starting from Feb 1, stocks and bonds worth more than 100,000 Indian rupees (S$2,077) that are sold after a one-year holding period would be liable to a 10 per cent charge on profit, as opposed to none now.

The buoyant Indian stock markets reacted negatively to the news. A day after the Budget, the Sensex was down about 840 points or 2.3 per cent; the Nifty was down 256 points, also 2.3 per cent. The falls were the worst since November 2016. Last year, the Sensex had risen by about 28 per cent.