Main highlights from Arun Jaitley's populist 2017 budget
Synopsis
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday presented a populist budget. The budget has been received quite positively.
* Tax rates halved to 5% for income of Rs 2.5-5 lakh, tax slabs unchanged
* 10% surcharge on people earning between Rs 50 lakh-1 cr
* 15% surcharge on annual income above Rs 1 cr to continue
* Cash transactions above Rs 3 lakh to banned
* Corporate tax for SMEs with turnover up to Rs 50 cr cut to 25%; 96% companies to benefit
* Customs duty of LNG halved to 2.5%
* Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.2% next year, 3% in FY'19
* Political parties barred from accepting cash donation beyond Rs 2,000 per individual
* They can receive donations via cheques, electronic mode; electoral bonds to be issued by RBI
* Aadhaar-based health cards for senior citizens; a scheme for them to ensure 8 pc guaranteed returns
* FIPB to be abolished; further FDI policy liberalisation
* Government to have time-bound procedure for CPSE listing
* Railway PSUs -- IRCTC, IRFC, IRCON to be listed
* Payment Regulatory Board to be set up within RBI to regulate digital payments
* Negotiable instruments Act to be amended to deal with cheque bounce cases
* Legislative changes to confiscate of assets of economic offenders who flee country
* Demonetisation bold, decisive measure; to help GDP growth, taxes mop up to rise
* Effect of demonetisation not to spill over to next year
* GST, demonetisation 'tectonic changes' for economy
* Service charges on e-tickets booked via IRCTC waived
* Capital expenditure of Railway fixed at Rs 1.31 lakh cr
* Rail safety fund of Rs 1 lakh cr over 5 years, unmanned level crossing to be eliminated by 2020
* Budget based on 3 agenda -- Transform, Energise, Clean India (TECIndia).
* 3 yr period for long-term capital gains tax on immovable property reduced to 2 years; base year indexation shifted from April 1, 1981 to April 1, 2001
* Disinvestment target at Rs 72,500 cr, up from 56,500 cr
* Gross market borrowing pegged at Rs 6.05 lakh cr
* Duty exempted on POS machines and Iris readers for encouraging digital payments
* Tax benefits for Start ups to be for 3 out of 7 yrs
* FPI to be exempt from indirect transfer provision
* Integrated public sector oil major to be created to match global giants
* Direct Tax collection growth 15.8%, indirect tax 8.3%
* Total expenditure pegged at Rs 21.47 lakh crore
* Capital expenditure up 24%; to have multiplier effect
* Allocation to states hiked to Rs 4.11 cr
* FRBM Committee suggests Debt-GDP ratio of 60% by 2020
* Retail inflation to remain within 2-6 pc
* 2 new AIIMS to come up in Jharkhand, Gujarat
* Highest ever allocation of Rs 48,000 cr to MNREGA
* Farm sector to grow at 4.1% this fiscal, to double farm income in five years
* Farm credit target for next fiscal at Rs 10 lakh crore
* Fasal Bima yojana increased to 40% of crop area; raised to Rs 1.41 lakh crore in Kharif 2017 season
* Infrastructure investment pegged at Rs 3.96 lakh cr
* To double irrigation fund corpus to Rs 40,000 cr
* Infrastructure status accorded affordable housing
* Dairy processing fund with Rs 2000cr corpus to be set up
* Rs 1.84 lakh cr allocated for women, child initiatives
* Rs 1.87 lakh cr allocated to rural, agri, allied sectors
* 1 crore houses by 2019 for homeless
* PM Awas Yojana allocation up from Rs 15,000 cr to Rs 23,000 cr
* 100% village electrification to be achieved by May 2018
* Rs 31,920 cr allocated for Scheduled Tribes, Rs 4,195 cr minority affairs, outcome-based budgeting to start
* Road sector allocation hiked to Rs 64,000 cr
* Innovation Fund to be created for Secondary Education
* Allocation of Rs 2.41 lakh crore rail, road, shipping to create jobs, spur economic activity
* New metro rail policy to be announced
* New crude oil reserves proposed at Odisha and Rajasthan; to take strategic reserve capacity to 15.33 mmt
* India on cusp of digital revolution
* FDI increased 35 pc to Rs 1.45 lakh crore in H1 FY'17.