Mumbai: The entire nation’s eyes are on the parliament today as the union budget will be tabled by the finance minister. While various businesses have shared their expectations about the upcoming union budget, The Free Press Journal talked to families of common people who shared varied perspectives upon the financial statement.

The expectations of common people ranged from relaxations in income tax to relief from inflation, lowering taxes on capital gains, controlling inflation in the education sector and lifting taxes laid upon medical insurance.

Relief in taxes on Mediclaim, traditional businesses and capital gains

Velji Bauva (72), a retired businessman, lives with his family of nine members in Mulund. Being a senior citizen, Bauva believes that the government should lift taxes laid on mediclaim and long term investment gains for elderly people. He said that the government should make health insurance tax-free for everyone as healthcare is becoming expensive every passing day and a mediclaim has become a necessity for everybody.

“The Pradhamantri Jan Aarogya Yojana scheme recently launched by the government for senior citizens must widen its age eligibility criteria along with the treatments covered. Moreover, the insurance amount should be increased as senior citizens are more prone to variety of ailments,” said Bauva adding that the government should also restore the railway concession for senior citizens.

On the other hand, Bauva’s elder son Praful (42) does not have high hopes from the union budget. As a businessman who runs a mobile shop, he hopes that the government should decrease various taxes levied upon businesses and incentivise them in order to support them in the era of e-commerce.

“We cannot sell our products in the same price that the online websites sell as we have to pay rent of our shop and also pay salaries to our employees. If the traditional businesses are offered incentives through tax relief, it would prove very helpful for us,” said Praful.

Praful’s wife Preeti (42) is a housewife and is worried about the rising inflation affecting the daily essential needs of the family. “Purchasing something as basic as vegetables also costs more than Rs500 these days. Nowadays I can’t even think about buying fruits for the entire family under Rs500. Inflation should be controlled and prices of these essentials should be specially brought down,” she said.

Their son Darshil (22), who is one of the youngest members of the family, has just completed his graduation in management studies and planning for a masters in business administration. Recently started his career as a mutual fund distributor, he said that the tax and brokerage charged on stock market profits should be reduced to attract more youth towards this sector. He added that the taxes on both short-term and long-term trading were increased in the last budget and should be now reduced.

Bauva’s younger son Chetan (39) works at a saree showroom believes that the government should abolish taxes laid on long term capital gains. “Wherever I plan to invest my money, there is a huge chunk that I have to ultimately pay to the government. Even the National Pension Scheme has not been spared. The middle class should be motivated to invest more in terms of giving them a financially secure future,” he added.

Upgradate Mumbai Locals, Relief in Pink Tax and Promotion Of Space Technology

Borivali-based Gopal Jhaveri (52) is an architecture professional and has high hopes on budget allocation to railways. He said that the lifeline of Mumbai should be upgraded which will benefit all the classes living in the city. He expects that a significant amount should be allocated to the suburban railway network of Mumbai to convert all the local trains into air conditioned trains.

“Mumbai contributes to around 28% of the total revenue of railways and in return we get a facility where over 2,000 people lose their lives every year by falling off the local trains. If all the trains are converted into AC trains, it will ensure safety for all Mumbaikars and even increase the productivity of the region contributing the highest amount of GST, excise and income tax collection,” he said.

He also added that the union government should provide to upgrade Mumbai’s infrastructure and make it a slum-free city.

Jhaveri’s daughter Pearl (20), who is a political science student, said that the government should give relief in the pink tax laid upon products of women’s use including makeup, skincare and menstrual hygiene. She also added that apart from increased spending on infrastructure, the union government should also allocate budget for an AIIMS Hospital in Mumbai.

“Mumbai is a city where 65% people live in slums and for people who cannot afford medical expenses, such a hospital will be beneficial for them. Water, sanitation and electricity are necessity for us but for some they are luxury. This hospital can be anywhere in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region as it will also bring in medical colleges and improve the area economy,” she added.

Pearl’s twin brother Parth said that along with artificial intelligence, the union budget should also allocate more funds to space exploration programmes. As the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently completed its 100th launch, he believes that there is a lot of potential in this field that the youth can explore.

“Youth in particular are more keen towards space technology and the government should develop more opportunities for astrophysics and astronomy institutes. However, the government also needs to allocate budget to the overall education system which provides more practical knowledge to the students. Budget should be allocated to provide communication skills and self presentation lessons to students,” he said.

Relaxation in Real Estate Taxes, Income Tax And Focus On Artificial Intelligence

Vicky Punjabi (58) is a businessman who is associated with the real estate and construction sector and lives in Cuffe Parade. He believes that real estate is one of the heavily taxed sectors including taxes like GST, property tax, stamp duty and vacancy tax among others. He suggested that the taxes should be clubbed into one single tax to facilitate the ease of doing business.

“At every point, we are taxed an paying so much taxes in a city like Mumbai is itself a heavy burden on us. It eats away almost 50% of our profits and only a top few builders are able to afford it. The government should also look at judicial reforms by filling up the vacancies and upgrading the infrastructure to increase the pace of legal matters. These long legal matters become a financial burden for everyone who is involved,” he added.

Vicky’s wife Sapna (54) works in the financial sector expects relaxations in personal income tax. She suggested that the salaried class should be prioritised and a change in tax slabs or incentives to income tax payers will be welcomed by a large part of the country. She claimed that it will be beneficial for the economy as well as it will leave more income in the hands of common people to spend.

“The government has rolled out a lot of freebies for lower income groups but the salaried class which pays income tax should be offered some incentive. The GDP in the last quarter of 2024 was low at 5.4% and tax relaxations will allow people to spend more money. While inflation is high and the GST collected on some of the items is unreasonable, some rationalisation in these fields is also necessary,” she added.

While one of their sons studies in Singapore, the elder son Naren (27) contributes to the family business along with his father. Although Naren does not expect much from this year’s union budget saying that the current government does not have much incentive to offer, he said that the government should spend more on infrastructure and defence.

He also added that the government should focus on the field of artificial intelligence but should not spend much on research and development of new technologies. “The US spend around USD6 Billion to develop OpenAI and China spent USD5 Billion to develop DeepSeek. Focus on AI is the need of the hour but these technologies will become cheaper. We should develop new technologies from the already existing AI technologies of the West,” he added.