UNION BUDGET 2018 KEY POINTS FROM FM ARUN JAITLEY’S FIFTH BUDGETFeatured

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Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitly presented the last full budget of the NDA government before India goes to polls for the General Elections due in 2019.This is the first budget after big-ticket economic reforms sunch as the Goods and Services Tax,dynamic fuel pricing,mega PSU bank recapitalistion and more.Let us look at the key points.

No change in personal income tax slabs and rates;

Surcharge of 10% on income above Rs 50 lakh but less than Rs 1 cr, 15% on income above Rs 1 cr to continue;

Standard Deduction returns after a decade; Rs 40,000 to be allowed in lieu of transport allowance and medical expenses;

Economic growth pegged at 7.2-7.5% for H2 FY18;

India's average growth in first 3-year of NDA govt 7.5%;

Indian economy size $2.5 trillion; 7th largest in world;

India is expected to be 5th largest economy very soon;

Revised Fiscal Deficit estimate for 2017-18 is Rs 5.95 lakh crore at 3.5% of GDP;

Fiscal Deficit for FY'19 estimated at 3.3% of GDP;

Govt’s market borrowing estimated at Rs 4.07 lakh cr in FY'19 versus Rs 4.79 lakh cr estimated in 2017-18;

MSP of all kharif crops to be hiked to at least 1.5 times of their production cost;

Institutional mechanism proposed to develop policies and practices for price and demand forecast;

Rs 2,000 cr fund for developing and upgrading agri marketing infra in 22,000 Grameen Agri Markets and 585 APMCs;

Allocation for food processing ministry doubled from Rs 715 cr in RE FY'18 to Rs 1,400 cr in BE FY'19;

Kisan Credit Cards extended to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers;

Agriculture credit disbursal target increased to Rs 11 lakh crore from Rs 10 lakh crore in 2017-18;

Steps announced to deal with air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region;

2 crore more toilets to be built under Swachh Bharat Mission;

Substantial increase in allocation of National Rural Livelihood Mission to Rs 5,750 cr in FY'19;

Govt announced 2 major initiatives under 'Ayushman Bharat' programme;

Govt to launch a flagship National Health Protection Scheme to cover over 10 cr poor families providing coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family every year for hospitalisation;

Govt earmarks Rs 56,619 cr for SCs and Rs 39,135 cr for STs in FY'19;

Govt to contribute 12% of wages of the new employees in EPF for all sectors for 3 years;

Facility of fixed-term employment will be extended to all sectors;

Outlay of Rs 7,148 cr for textiles sector in 2018-19;

Finance Ministry to leverage India Infrastructure Finance Corporation to help finance major infrastructure projects;

Redevelopment of 600 major railway stations being taken up;

Suburban network of 160 kms in Mumbai at an estimated cost of Rs 17,000 cr being planned;

Gross budgetary support for Railways hiked to over Rs 3 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 2.73 lakh crore in 2017-18;

Plans to expand airport capacity more than 5 times to handle a billion trips a year;

Sebi to consider mandating, beginning with large firms, to meet about 1/4th of their financing needs from bond market;

Allocation on Digital India scheme doubled to Rs 3,073 cr;

Rs 10,000 cr for creation and augmentation of telecom infra;

Government to come out with policy to introduce toll system on 'pay as you use' basis;

Proposed expenditure on infra pegged at Rs 5.97 lakh cr as against Rs 4.94 lakh crore in FY'18;

Divestment target for FY'19 at Rs 80,000 cr;

Bank recapitalisation to pave way for PSBs to lend additional credit of Rs 5 lakh crore;

Govt to formulate a 'Gold Policy' to develop gold as an asset class;

Emoluments of President revised to Rs 5 lakh/month, Rs 4 lakh for vice president and Rs 3.5 lakh for Governors;

Govt proposes changes to refix salary, constituency allowance, office expenses and allowance payable to Members of Parliament;

The law will also provide for automatic revision of emoluments of MPs every five years indexed to inflation;

Rs 150 cr earmarked for FY'19 for the activities leading to Commemoration of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi;

Growth in direct taxes up to Jan 15, 2018 is 18.7%;

Corporate tax reduced to 25% for firms with turnover of Rs 250 cr in 2016-17;

Interest income exemption on deposits with banks and post offices for senior citizens increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000;

Senior citizens will be able to claim benefit of deduction up to Rs 50,000 annually on health insurance premium and/or general medical expenditure incurred;

Govt introduces long-term capital gains on equity market; longterm capital gains over Rs 100,000 to be taxed at 10%;

Education cess increased to 4% from 3%;

E-assessment of Income Tax Act to eliminate person-to-person contact;

Customs duty on mobile phones increased from 15% to 20%; also on certain parts of TVs to 15%;

Govt makes PAN mandatory for any entity entering into a financial transaction of Rs 2.5 lakh or more;

Food subsidy to rise to Rs 1.69 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 1.4 lakh crore in current year;

Defence outlay raised to Rs 2.82 lakh crore in 2018-19 from Rs 2.67 lakh crore in current year;

Customs duty on crude edible vegetable oils hiked from 12.5% to 30%; on refined edible vegetable oil from 20% to 35%;

Customs duty on perfumes, dental hygiene, after-shave, deodorants, room deodorisers, preparations for use on hair doubled to 20%.

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