Wednesday, 09 Oct, 2024
By: Damini Mehta
Rise in prices, a central factor in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections still dominates public opinion. More than half of the respondents (52.8 per cent) felt the budget will not reduce inflation at all.
More than half of Indians are not satisfied with the Union Budget 2024-25. Survey data also shows that in seven out of 12 years of the BJP Union government’s budget, more citizens were dissatisfied than were satisfied with the Union Budget of that year.
The Union Budget 2024-25 has garnered a varied mixed response from different sections of society. To some, the three schemes under the Employment-Linked incentive scheme meant to boost employment, will give the economy the relevant push to create fresh jobs. The scheme announcements follow up the Economic Survey 2023-24 finding that India needs to generate 78.5 lakh jobs in non-farm sector annually till 2030. However, the opinion that the schemes are mere lip service and far from offering any real push to the bleak unemployment scenario in India is not uncommon.
The Budget also has appeared to have left a sour taste in the mouth of middle-class Indians who feel the Modi-government has betrayed them year after year by not offering adequate concessions in the form of the tax cuts. This is despite the budget announcement to increase the standard deduction for salaried employees from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 75,000 and other concessions in direct tax cut that will induce savings up to ₹17,500 as per the revised structure.
CVoter has been conducting the BUDGET INSTAPOLL right after the live telecast of Union Budget by the finance minister in the Parliament; interviewing approx. 2028+ randomly selected respondents across all demographics. The Instapoll, done for the last nine or so years, asked citizens questions about their trust in the budget’s ability to reduce their household bill, improve their quality of life, decline in inflation etc.
In the last piece, we covered public opinion on improve in quality of life, and the Modi government’s ability to meet budget expectations.
On being asked if the budget will help reduce inflation or bring down prices of goods and services, more than half of the respondents (52.8 per cent) felt the budget will not reduce inflation at all whereas less than one-fifths (18.4 per cent) were extremely confident on the Budget’s ability to reduce prices.
Distrust in the budget’s impact on reducing inflation has remained consistent year after year. Barring 2023, more than 40 per cent of the respondents every year since 2015, when the INSTAPOLL was first conducted, were of the opinion that the budget will do no good when it comes to reducing prices.
Scepticism about the budget’s potential in reducing household expenses runs high too. 54.8 per cent Indians feel that the budget will push up their monthly expenses. Year after year, Indians have remained consistent in their opinion of the budget’s ability to reduce household expenses. In 2015, 81.2 per cent Indians believed that the budget would increase their household expenses. A measly 14 per cent Indians interviewed right after the Budget 2024-25 was presented felt that it will allow them to save more money.
The CVoter Budget Instapoll asked Indians how the budget will impact their day-to-day expenses in the next one year. More than one-third Indians believed the budget will push their expenses up but within a manageable limit. Strikingly, 47.5 per cent felt that the budget provisions, announced by FM Nirmala Sitharaman in Narendra Modi led-BJP government’s first budget of the third consecutive term in power, will make it more difficult for them to manage their future expensive. What also reflects public opinion on the Modi government’s management of the economy and impact of Indian households, since the year 2015, Indians have been of the opinion that their expenses will increase after the budget and may or may not be manageable for them.
The CVoter Budget Instapoll weighted data to the known population profile and has a margin of error of +/- 3% at national level and +/- 5% at regional level.
