By Nikunj Ohri, Shivangi Acharya and Sarita Chaganti Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India slashed personal tax rates in its annual budget on Saturday, as the world's fifth largest economy focuses on boosting domestic demand amid uncertainty over the global economic outlook due to potential new tariff barriers.

India's economic growth story has been driven in large part by urban consumption since the pandemic, but the economy is slowing. Modi is now hinting at tax cuts for the middle class ahead of budget talks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's customary pre-Budget speech on Friday, January 31, gave the nation's middle class something to look forward to in Budget 2025. Every year, the middle class is mostly disappointed as the government introduces more schemes to benefit the poor and hardly has anything for the section that pays for most services through direct taxation.