Nirmala Sitharaman Union Budget: 'No-harm' Budget brings back the bulls, but bond market is alarmed
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday unveiled an expansionary Budget that focused on health, hope and growth; maintained status quo on direct taxes; avoided the much-feared wealth tax, boosted government’s capital expenditure by 26 per cent on the revised estimates for FY21 and kept market borrowing targets around the same level as the financial year gone by, at Rs 12 lakh crore. Those largely met the expectations of the financial markets, which were hoping for a ‘no-harm Budget’. Domestic equities rallied, but bond yields hit a four-month high as market participants reckoned t...