“A middle class budget with a rural focus is what the government has delivered in an election year. They have managed to focus on rural and SMEs while enabling higher affordable housing too. Farm support schemes will put more money in the hands of farmers thus giving an impetus to rural consumption. MSMEs will benefit from the interest rate subvention and from the sourcing requirement guidelines for government entities. Low income individuals will reap significant benefits from this budget and that will mean a stimulus for affordable housing. The announcement of benefits under Section 80 – IBA of the Income Tax Act being extended, additional boost from exemption of tax on Notional Rent and capital gains benefits on selling one property and buying two will all give affordable housing financing a leg up. On the interest rate front, the FM has set the stage for a rate cut by the RBI and that is a positive for funding. The removal of three banks from PCA framework and the expected capital infusion in this month, will ease the liquidity problems to a good extent. Fiscal arithmetic however doesn’t seems to be too clear, but in an election year you usually see higher spends.”