WHILE making his maiden Budget Speech in Parliament today, the Union Finance Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley said that India has a strong urge to grow and free itself from the curse of poverty. The people are in no mood to suffer unemployment, inadequate basic amenities, lack of infrastructure and apathetic governance. The Indian economy will have to manoeuvre its way through a sluggish global recovery, he added. The Finance Minister Mr. Jaitley said that the Government intends to usher in a policy regime that would bring the desired growth, lower inflation, sustained level of external sector balance and prudent policy stance. The Finance Minister pointed out that the present economic situation presents a challenge of slow growth in manufacturing, in infrastructure and also the need to introduce fiscal prudence. The tax to GDP ratio must be improved and non-tax revenues increased. He has set a target of fiscal deficit of 3.6 per cent for 2015-16 and 3 per cent for 2016-17.
– HIGHLIGHTS BUDGET 2014 –
PUBLIC FINANCE
- Government committed to achieve fiscal deficit of 4.1% for 2014-15: Fiscal deficit target of
- 3.4 per cent in 2015-16 and 3 per cent in 2016-17 to be set
- Revenue deficit pegged at 2.9 per cent of GDP.
- Non-plan expenditure pegged at Rs 12,19,892 crore for 2014-15, including fetilizer subsidy and defence spending.
- Gross tax receipts pegged at Rs 13,64,524 crore; non-tax revenue Rs 2,12,505 crore; capital receipt Rs 73,000 crore in 2013-14.
PERSONAL FINANCE
- No change in Income Tax rates.
- Tax exemption limit increased from Rs. 2.0 to Rs 2.5 lakhs; Tax exemption limit for senior citizens changed from Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. 3.0 lakhs
- Increase in investment limit under Section 80C from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 1.5 lakhs
- Housing loan rebate has been hiked from 1.5 lakh to 2 lakhs for self occupied property
- Public Provident Fund (PPF) investment limit increased to Rs 1.5 lakh from current Rs 1 lakh:
- Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) is being re-introduced to encourage rural people to invest in this instrument.
- Special scheme to encourage saving for girl child education and marriage to be introduced.
- 60 more Ayakar Sewa Kendras to be set up in the country
TAX ADMINISTRATION
- Government committed to providing stable and predictable tax regime that will protect investment and spur growth
- The govt will not ordinarily change policies retrospectively which creates a fresh liability
- Govt proposes to strengthen authority for advance ruling in tax, set up more benches.
- All future indirect transfers under the retro tax regime will be scrutinised by a high level committee of CBDT before action is taken:
- Expenditure Management Commission will be constituted to look at expenditure reforms
- Changes in transfer pricing regulation proposed
AGRICULTURE
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayin Yojana” to be started for irrigation development.
- Technology driven second Green Revolution with focus on “Protein revolution” to be implemented
- Government proposes to provide finance to 5 lakh landless farmers through NABARD
- Govt will initiate scheme to provide a soil health card; 100 cr set aside. Rs.56 cr for soil testing labs across country;
- A new urea policy to be formulated
- National Adaption Fund for climate change to be set up
- Agriculture University in AP and Rajasthan, and Horticulture University in Haryana and Telangana proposed. Rs. 200 cr set aside
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
- Rs. 14,389 cr outlay for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana for development of rural roads.
- Rs. 3600 cr set aside for National Rural Drinking Water for providing safe drinking water in 20,000 habitations.
- Deen Dayal Upadhaya Gram Jyoti Yojana to be launched to augment power supply in rural areas.
- Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission will be launched to deliver integrated project based infrastructure in the rural areas.
- “Swach Bharat Abhiyaan” to be launched aimed at total sanitation
- National Rural Internet and Technology Mission to be started.
DEFENCE
- FDI in Defence sector raised to 49 per cent
- War memorial to be set up along with a war museum; Rs. 100 cr set aside for this
- Rs. 5000 cr set aside for defence outlay over and above amount provided under interim budget; Total outlay Rs 2,29,000 crores
INDUSTRY
- Definition of MSME to be revised for high capital ceiling
- Rs 10,000 crore venture capital fund to be set up for MSME sector
- Investment allowance at 15% for 3 yrs to manufacturing companies which invest more than Rs 25 cr in plant and machinery
- 10-year tax holiday to be extended to companies that start power generation by March 31, 2017.
- Biotech clusters to be set up in Bangalore and Faridabad to take science and technology to new heights
- Eight mega Textile Clusters at Varanasi, Bareily, Lucknow, Surat, Kuttch, Bhagalpur, Mysore and one in Tamil Nadu to be set up.
- Trade facilitation centres will be set up at a cost of Rs 50 crore to help handloom development.
- Basic Custom duties reduced on certain items to encourage investment and domestic production, they include LCD, LED TV panels, machinery required for setting up Bio-CNG plants,
- Basic customs duty reduced on items used in chemical and petrochemical sector to encourage investment.
- Manufacturing units will be allowed to sell their products through retail and e-commerce
- Apprentice Act to be suitably amended to strengthen the Apprentice Training Scheme
INFRASTRUCTURE
- Institutions to mainstream PPP projects to be set up; priority being given to shipping, inland waterways, airports and road development.
- National Industrial Corridor Authority, with its headquarter in Pune, is being set-up with an amount of Rs. 100 crore, to coordinate the development of industrial corridors with smart cities
- Rs. 4200 cr set aside for Jal Marg Vikas project on river Ganga connecting Allahabad to Haldia,over 1620 km
- ‘Namami Gange”, an integrated Ganga Development Project announced; Rs. 2037 cr set aside for this
- NRI fund for conservation of river Ganga to be set up
- To complete gas grid,15,000 km of additional pipeline to be developed through the PPP mode
- Metro rail services to be launched in Lucknow and Ahmedabad; Rs 100 crore set aside for it:
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
- Rs 7,060 crores outlay for the development of 100 smart cities
- Urban renewal to address drinking water, use of recycled water,solid waste management, digital connectivity;
- Mission for low cost housing proposed to incentivise development of low cost housing; Rs. 400 cr announced
- Slum development to be included in Corporate Social Responsibility activities
- National Housing Banking programme announced with an outlay of Rs 8,000 crores
BANKING & FINANCE
- A Financial Inclusion Mission will be launched from Independence Day this year as a time bound programme to provide all households in the country with banking services.
- RBI to Create A Framework for Licensing Small Banks
- Six new Debt Recovery Tribunals at Chandigarh, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ernakulam, Dehradun, and Siliguri to address the problem of Non Performing Assets.
- FDI in insurance sector is being increased to 49 per cent from the current level of 26 per cent with full Indian management and control.
HRD
- A national multi-scale programme called Skill India to be introduced to provide training and support for employment
- 5 new IITs in Jammu, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to be set up
- 5 new IIMs in HP, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra to be set up
- 4 new AIIMS to be set up in AP, West Bengal, Maharashtra (Vidarbha) and Uttar Pradesh ( Purvanchal)
- Jai Prakash Narayan National Centre for Excellence in Humanities to come up in Madhya Pradesh.
MEDIA
- Rs 100 cr set aside for Community Radio Centres; 600 new and existing ones to be supported
- ‘Kisan’ TV channel to be launched by DD at cost of Rs 100 crore: Rs 100 crore for Community radio stations proposed: FM.
- 24 x 7 Arun Prabha channel announced for the North Eastern region.
SPORTS
- Govt tol set up national sports academy for different sports in different parts of India
- Sports University to be set up in Manipur; Rs. 100 cr provided in current financial year
TOURISM
- In order to give major boost to tourism, e-visas would be introduced at 9 airports. This facilitates visas on arrival:
- Rs 200 cr set aside to support Gujarat govt in the Sardar Patel statue installation
WELFARE MEASURES
- Subsidy regime to be made more targeted to provide full protection to the marginalized, SCs and STs.
- Rs 100 crore allocated for the modernization of Madarsas; Program for upgradation of skills and ancient arts for the minorities to be implemented
- Rs 50,548 cr proposed for SC development
- 15 new Brail presses to be established to produce literature for visually impaired; Govt to print currency notes with braille like signs to help the blind
- “Beti padhao, beti badhao yojana” announced to promote girl child education. Outlay Rs. 100 cr
- Crisis Management Centre for women to be set up in Delhi.
