Eventhough the impact of Union Budget on equities has reduced over the recent years, it still remains an event that can’t be fully ignored by both the bulls and bears on Dalal Street.

Therefore, the event is bound to bring its share of volatility today as well in Dalal Street.

Given that 2024 is an election-bound year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget for 2024-25 (April-March) at 11 AM today.

The full-fledged budget will be presented by the newly-elected government in July.

Ahead of this year’s interim budget, we screened through the market performance on Budget days in the previous years.In the last 12 budgets, which includes two interim budgets, the benchmark Sensex gave negative returns on six instances.During these six instances, the steepest fall that the index saw was in 2020, when it fell 2.4% on the Budget day presentation.
Also Read| 24 stocks that insiders are betting on ahead of Interim Budget 2024

How’s the Josh This Time?

In the run-up to the interim budget, equities have rallied amid optimism that the announcements will continue to be growth and investment-led.

A successful victory for the BJP in the state assembly elections last year gave assurance to investors about political and policy continuity.

The domestic macroeconomic landscape over the last few months has improved considerably and bolstered the narrative that India is and will be one of the fastest growing economies in the world in the near future.

Given that most things are in place, experts don’t expect any unpleasant surprises from the government in the budget.

Experts are not ruling out certain populist measures in the run-up to the elections.

“We expect policies to extend the social safety net for the ‘bottom of the pyramid’, including through comprehensive insurance cover and support for Women. Affordable Housing schemes may possibly get a boost,” Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities said.

Besides a few measures to support the rural economy, analysts see the government sticking to its fiscal consolidation path while continuing to increase investments towards capital expenditure.

Care Ratings expects capex target for FY25 to be raised further by 10% to Rs 11 lakh crore due to the government’s continued focus on infrastructure.

So, the spirits of bulls on Dalal Street remains high, but sustenance of the same hinges upon the finance minister.

(Data inputs from Ritesh Presswala)

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

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