Union budget at a glance, hurray for the common man

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley laid down the Union Budget 2017-2018, the fourth by the Narendra Modi government. With an aim at softening the demonetisation blow, there were key announcements, particularly in taxes, finance, political party funding, railways and housing.

migrator|2 Feb 2017 11:00 AM IST

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

Chennai

Here is an overview of the Budget:

Agriculture:

Total allocation for rural, agricultural and allied sectors for 2017-18 is 1,87,223 crores 24 percent higher than last year.
Sum of Rs 10 lakh crore allocated as credit to farmers, with 60 days’ interest waiver.
NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) fund will be increased to Rs 40,000 crore.
Government will set up mini labs in Krishi Vigyan Kendras for soil testing.
Dedicated micro irrigation fund will be set up for NABARD with Rs 5,000 crore initial corpus.
Irrigation corpus increased from Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore.
Dairy processing infrastructure fund will be initially created with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore.

Political funding:

The maximum amount of cash donation for a political party will be Rs 2,000 from any one source.
Political parties will be entitled to receive donations by cheque or digital mode from donors.
Amendment being proposed to the RBI Act to enable issuance of electoral bonds. A donor can purchase these bonds from banks or post offices through cheque or digital transactions. They can be redeemed only by registered political parties.

Defence:

Healthcare:

Rs 500 crore allocated for Mahila Shakthi Kendras.
Under a nationwide scheme for pregnant women, Rs 6,000 will be transferred to each person.
A sum of Rs 1,84,632 crore allocated for women and children.
Elimination of tuberculosis by 2025 targeted.
Health sub centres, numbering 1.5 lakh, will be transformed into health wellness centres.
Two AIIMS will be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat.
Structural transformation of the regulatory framework for medical education will be undertaken.
Aadhaar-based smartcards will be issued to senior citizens to monitor their health.
Allocation for Scheduled Castes Rs 52,393 crore.

Start-ups:

Start-ups incorporated after March 31, 2016 could now avail a three-year tax holiday in the first seven years of their existence. Last year, the tax exemption was for three out of five years.

Rural India:

Over Rs 3 lakh crore will be spent for rural India.
During 2017-18, five lakh farm ponds will be taken up under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).
Steps to ensure participation of women in MGNREGA up to 55% will be taken.
Space technology to be used in a big way to plan MGNREGA works.
Proposal to complete 1 crore houses for those without homes.
Allocation of Rs 19,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in 2017-18.
100% rural electrification by March 2018.

Tax proposals:

Holding period for long term capital gain lowered to two years.
Proposal to have a carry-forward of MAT (Minimum Alternative Tax) for 15 years.
Capital gains tax to be exempted for persons holding land from which land was pooled for creation of the state capital of Andhra Pradesh.
Under the corporate tax, in order to make MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) companies more viable, there is a proposal to reduce tax for small companies with a turnover of up to Rs 50 crore to 25%.
Basic customs duty for LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) to be reduced to 2.5% from 5%.
The Income Tax Act to be amended to ensure that no transaction above Rs 3 lakh is permitted in cash.
The limit of cash donation by charitable trusts reduced to Rs 2,000 from Rs 10,000.
Net revenue loss in direct tax could be Rs 20,000 crore.

Income tax:

Existing rate of tax for individuals between Rs 2.5 and Rs 5 lakh reduced to 5% from 10%.
All other categories of tax payers in subsequent brackets to get a benefit of Rs 12,500
Simple one-page return for people with an annual income of Rs 5 lakh other than business income will be facilitated.
People filing, I-T returns for the first time will not come under any government scrutiny.
10 % surcharge on individual income above Rs 50 lakh and up to Rs 1 crore to make up for Rs 15,000 crore loss due to cut in personal I-T rate. 15% surcharge on individual income above Rs 1 crore to remain.

Finance:

Bill on resolution of financial firms will be introduced in current session of Parliament.
Foreign Investment Promotion Board will be abolished.
Revised mechanism to ensure time-bound listing of CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises).
Computer emergency response team for financial sector will be formed.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana lending target fixed at Rs 2.44 lakh crore for 2017-18.
The government will introduce two schemes to promote BHIM App — referral bonus for the users and cash back for the traders.
Negotiable Instruments Act might be amended.
For big-time offences — including economic offenders fleeing India, the government will introduce legislative change or introduce law to confiscate the assets of the accused within the country.

Energy:

Education:

Infrastructure:

Total allocation of Rs 39,61,354 crore.
Rs 64,000 crore allocated for highways.
High speed Internet to be allocated to 1,50,000 gram panchayats.
Transport sector allocated Rs 2.41 lakh crore and Bharat Net Project allocated 10,000 crores.

Fiscal situation:

Total expenditure Rs 21,47,000 crore.
Plan, non-plan expenditure to be abolished. Focus will be on capital expenditure — 25.4 %.
Rs 3,000 crore under the Department of Economic Affairs for implementing the Budget announcements.
Expenditure for science and technology — Rs 37,435 crore.
Total resources transferred to States and Union Territories — Rs 4.11 lakh crore.
Recommended 3% fiscal deficit for three years with a deviation of 0.5% of the GDP.
Revenue deficit — 1.9 %.
Fiscal deficit of 2017-18 pegged at 3.2% of the GDP. Will remain committed to achieving 3% in the next year.

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