For non-resident Indians (NRIs) the Indian budget for 2016-17 which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents today is an occasion to look forward to realising some of their long-standing demands and needs.

While the new budget is widely expected to give a further fillip to efforts by the fast growing Indian economy to boost investment and economic growth in line with its targeted 7.75 per cent growth for 2016-17 NRIs in the GCC expect the government to introduce more concrete and pragmatic schemes to tap the financial clout and intellectual resources of overseas Indians for the development of the country.

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One key budget proposal the 27 million overseas Indian community expects is the reduction of tax on non-resident ordinary (NRO) bank accounts to bring it on par with resident accounts. Other liberal proposals widely expected by NRIs include a more generous baggage allowance especially with regard to the quantity of gold one can take to India and a long-awaited legal reform allowing NRIs to invest in agricultural properties.

At present the duty-free allowance on gold jewellerytaken to India is Rs50000 for a male passenger and Rs100000 for a female passenger. At the current price of gold a male passenger can thus carry only 16 grammes of gold jewellery and a female passenger can carry 32 grammes of gold jewellery with this allowance.Most NRIs expect this rule to be relaxed so that regardless of the prices a male passenger should be allowed to take 50 grammes and a female up to 100 grammes without duty.

Investors across the globe expect the third budget by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to unveil a set of bold reforms although some of the big reform initiatives proposed in the earlier two budgets are yet to get off the ground.

They anticipate the budget to have more measures to ease the climate to doing business as well as its cost to ensure that the agenda for 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' becomes a reality. They expect the Indian government to introduce a single-window clearance system covering both central and state laws with pre-defined timelines for speedy clearances.

Investors believe the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax is one of the promises that the government still has to deliver. The implementation of GST will give the industry a very clear taxation structure and stimulate a big change for the logistics architecture.

Business leaders and corporate houses in India and abroad are also keen to see the government to further build on its reform agenda. They argue that the new budget must make provisions to broaden the tax net and one way to achieve this is to increase PAN (permanent account number) registrations

which will result in substantial reduction in black money transactions. They also call for more measures to simplify and bring clarity in tax laws which will undoubtedlyimprove tax compliance thereby increasing revenue.

NRI businessmen in the UAE also expect the budget proposals to restore the confidence of the private sector by speeding up the reform process that is already underway to improve ease of doing business and de-stress the capital markets.

Another key measure widely expected to be proposed is a move to expedite the enactment of the Real Estate Bill to boost the realty sector by protecting consumer interests by curbing fraudulent practices.

Investors in technology argue that with India continuing to rank high both as source and destination of cyber-attacks to ensure the success of the 'Digital India' programme it is imperative to allocate 10 per cent of the IT budgets exclusively for cyber and information security. This will also encourage more Indians to use the IT infrastructure and e-governance services.

Individual taxpayers hope for new relaxed taxation measures that would leave a little more in their hands. They expect further simplification of procedures and processes to make tax-filing simpler.

For general public expectations includeincrease in tax exemption limit from Rs250000 to Rs300000; increase in tax deduction under of Income Tax Act1961 from Rs150000 to Rs 200000; increase in limit of three years for construction period for availing interest deduction on housing loan.

Individual taxpayers also expect to have tax deduction to be provided on Gold Monetisation Scheme to bring down gold imports. They also expect tax deduction on infrastructure bonds to be reintroduced to boost infrastructure sector and an increase in tax exemption limits on interest on savings bank from Rs10000 to Rs20000.

Golden desire
NRIs expect rules would be relaxed

Most of the non-resident Indians are expecting that government may allow a male passenger to take 50 grammes and a female up to 100 grammes without duty.

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