automobile sector wants electric vehicles to be put in priority lending to encourage more citizens to opt for evs at low interest rateswhile india is rebounding at the quickest pace among major economies this year finance minister nirmala sitharaman will need more than just stimulus to keep this run sustainable a string of state polls next month and a covid variant only makes her task challenging here are the 14 expectations economists companies tax experts and indias salaried class have from sitharamans february budget 1 economists are rooting for a gradual fiscal consolidation path capital expenditure to pursue growth and steps to rein in inflation the yearonyear projection of fiscal deficit should not be significantly large they feel they want the fm to take capex route and preferably spend on capital assets and infrastructure projects rather than raising allocation to ruralcentric cash or employment schemes advt 2 economists also want the reintroduction of wealth and inheritance tax to address rising inequality in covid a joint study by ashoka university and think tank cbga pitches for reintroduction of these taxes while providing incentives for charitable donations indias richest families saw their wealth reach a record high in 2021 even as 84 indian households saw an income decline amid the pandemic said a report from oxfam india 3 the amount of standard deduction is significantly low given inflation and a variant on loose home budgets have been hit badly there is a need to consider increasing the current standard deduction limit of inr 50000 to at least inr 75000 to provide some cushion to the salaried to sail through these times 4 keeping in mind that workfromhome or wfh is here to stay the salaried class expects a deduction for home office expenses in calculating their taxes in budget 2022 from a cost perspective employees clearly need a backing with multiple members in a family working from home and with the need to accommodate online classes for children the salaried class has also looked at moving to homes with larger personal spaces the additional cost may vary but clearly there is an additional ongoing investment required from employees to manage working from home 5 insurance experts want health covers slotted in the 5 gst slab to make it more affordable to access quality healthcare a significant reduction in the gst on all personal lines of productsfrom the existing 18 to 5 will encourage more people to buy health insurance in these times for senior citizens it should be exempted advt 6 automobile sector wants electric vehicles to be put in priority lending to encourage more citizens to opt for evs at low interest rates it also wants sufficient fund be allocated for rd in a publicprivate partnership mode for development of batteries in its budget wish list the society of manufacturers of electric vehicles smev also said there is a need to amend the pli scheme for automobile and auto components as in its current form there is an unfair price disadvantage