Ashneer Grover, the founder of BharatPe and a former panelist on Shark Tank India, has taken aim at the Union Budget 2024, labeling it ‘boring, lifeless, and meaningless.’ In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Grover expressed his dissatisfaction with the budget’s content. He suggested that instead of delivering the budget, the government could have simply said, ‘We’re not feeling it this time – we’ll see what we can do next year.’ He further stated that watching another Ambani wedding function would have been a more valuable and productive use of time than watching the budget presentation.
Prior to the budget announcement, Grover had emphasized the public’s desire for clarity on crucial issues like tax hikes, product price increases, and job prospects in an interview with Mirror Now. The Union Budget 2024 did introduce some changes, including an increase in the standard deduction for salaried employees from ₹50,000 to ₹75,000 annually. Similarly, the deduction on family pension for pensioners is proposed to be increased from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000. The budget also introduced a tax rate of 20 percent on short-term gains from certain financial assets, and a 12.5 percent tax rate on long-term gains from both financial and non-financial assets. Despite these changes, Grover’s scathing critique highlights the perceived lack of substance and impact in the budget.
