Takeaways from India's budget that slashes income tax on the salaried middle class to spur growth

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has presented an annual budget that focuses on wooing the salaried middle class with tax cuts and spurring economic growth by boosting agriculture and manufacturing. In her budget speech Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is focused on boosting private investment to strengthen growth, increasing funding in the agriculture sector and enhancing the spending power of India’s middle class. She raised the starting point for income tax to $14,800 from $8,074. India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, is expected to post its slowest growth in four years due to a sluggish manufacturing sector, food inflation, stagnant job growth and weak urban consumption.