MUMBAI: Days ahead of the Budget, Reserve Bank
governor Raghuram Rajan on Wednesday pitched for increasing the tax exemption
limit on financial investments by individuals from Rs 1.5 lakh a year.
"Remember the government increased the
limit for tax benefit in savings by Rs 50,000 in the last Budget. The question
is - is there room for more primarily because the real tax benefit has fallen
over time because the limit was at Rs 1 lakh for a long time? Maybe what we
have to do is increase that," Rajan said on a call with analysts.
Investments of up to Rs 1.50 lakh in Public
Provident Fund, Provident Fund, New Pension Scheme, insurance policies and
equity-linked saving schemes is deducted from the taxable income under Sec 80
C. This helps in financial savings.
It can be noted that the national savings rate
has dipped to the 30% level from a high of over 36.9 per cent in FY 2008.
FM Arun Jaitley, who increased the limit to Rs
1.5 lakh in his July 2014 Budget, will be presenting the first full-fiscal Budget
of the new government on February 28.
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
