Details

Written by: VMS News Network

Created: 01 February 2019

SRINAGAR: The key highlights of the Interim Budget 2019-20 presented by the Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs, Railways & Coal, Piyush Goyal in Parliament today are as follows:

New Announcements

Farmers

12 crore small and marginal farmers to be provided with assured yearly income of Rs. 6000 per annum under PM-KISAN

Outlay of Rs. 75,000 crore for FY 2019-20 with additional Rs. 20,000 crore in RE 2018-19

Outlay for Rashtriya Gokul mission increased to Rs 750 crore

Rashtriya Kamdhenu Ayog to be setup for sustainable genetic up-gradation of the Cow resources

New separate Department of Fisheries for welfare of 1.5 crore fishermen

2% interest subvention to Farmers for Animal husbandry and Fisheries activities; additional 3% in case of timely repayment.

Interest subvention of 2% during disaster will now be provided for the entire period of reschedulement of loan

Labour

Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan scheme to ensure fixed monthly pension to 10 crore unorganized sector workers

Rs 3000 per month after 60 years of age with an affordable contribution of only Rs 100/55 per month

Health

22nd AIIMS to be setup in Haryana

MGNREGA

Rs. 60, 000 crore allocation for MGNREGA in BE 2019-20

Direct Tax proposals

Income upto Rs. 5 lakh exempted from Income Tax

More than Rs. 23,000 crore tax relief to 3 crore middle class taxpayers

Standard Deduction to be raised to Rs. 50,000 from Rs. 40,000

TDS threshold to be raised from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 40,000 on interest earned on bank/post office deposits

Existing rates of income tax to continue

Tax exempted on notional rent on a second self-occupied house

Housing and real estate sector to get boost-

TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent to be increased from Rs. 1,80,000 to Rs. 2,40,000

Benefit of rollover of capital gains increased from investment in one residential house to two residential houses for capital gains up to Rs. 2 crore.

Tax benefits for affordable housing extended till 31st March, 2020 under Section 80-IBA of Income Tax Act

Tax exemption period on notional rent, on unsold inventories, extended from one year to two years

Fiscal Programme

Fiscal deficit pegged at 3.4% of GDP for 2019-20

Target of 3% of fiscal deficit to be achieved by 2020-21.

Fiscal deficit brought down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from almost 6% seven years ago

Total expenditure increased by over 13% to Rs.27,84,200 crore in 2019-20 BE

Capital Expenditure for 2019-20 BE estimated at Rs. 3,36,292 crore

Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) allocation increased to Rs. 3,27,679 crore in BE 2019-20

National Education Mission allocation increased by about 20% to Rs. 38,572 crore in BE 2019-20

Allocation for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) increased by over 18% to Rs. 27,584 crore in BE 2019-20

Substantial increase in allocation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes -

Allocation for SCs increased by 35.6% - from Rs. 56,619 crore in BE 2018-19 to Rs. 76,801 crore in BE for 2019-20

Allocation for the STs increased by 28% - from 39,135 crore in BE 2018-19 to Rs. 50,086 crore in 2019-20 BE

Government confident of achieving the disinvestment target of 80,000 crore

Focus now on debt consolidation along with fiscal deficit consolidation programme

Poor and Backward Classes

“First right on the resources of country is that of the poor”: FM

25% additional seats in educational institutions to meet the 10% reservation for the poor

Targeted expenditure to bridge urban-rural divide & to improve quality of life in villages

All willing households to be provided electricity connections by March 2019

North East

Allocation to be increased by 21% to Rs. 58,166 crore in 2019-20 BE over 2018-19 BE

Arunachal Pradesh came on the air map recently

Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram came on India’s rail map for the first time

Container cargo movement through improved navigation capacity of the Brahmaputra

Vulnerable sections

A new committee under NITI Ayog to identify all the remaining De-notified nomadic and semi-Nomadic tribes.

New Welfare development Board under Ministry of social justice and empowerment for development and welfare of De-notified nomadic and semi nomadic tribes

Defence

Defence budget to cross Rs 3,00,000 crore for the first time ever

Railways

Capital support of Rs.64,587 crore proposed in 2019-20 (BE) from the budget

Overall capital expenditure programme to be of Rs. 1,58,658 crore

Operating Ratio expected to improve from 98.4% in 2017-18 to 96.2% in 2018-19 (RE) and to 95% in 2019- 20 (BE)

Entertainment Industry

Indian filmmakers to get access to Single window clearance as well for ease of shooting films

Regulatory provisions to rely more on self-declaration

To introduce anti-camcording provisions in the Cinematograph Act to control piracy

MSME and Traders

2% interest subvention on an incremental loan of  Rs 1 crore for GST registered SMEs

Atleast 3% of the 25% sourcing for the Government undertakings will be from women owned SMEs

Renewed Focus on Internal trade ; DIPP renamed to Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal trade

Digital Villages

The Government to make 1 lakh villages into Digital Villages over next five years

Other Announcement(s)

New National Artificial Intelligence portal to support National Program on Artificial Intelligence

Achievements during 2014-19

State of the Economy

India universally recognized as a bright spot of the global economy during last five years

“Country witnessed its best phase of macro-economic stability during 2014-19”, says FM

India is now the 6th largest economy in the world from being the 11thlargest in 2013-14

Annual average GDP growth during 2014-19 higher than any government since 1991

Government has broken inflation’s back from backbreaking inflation during 2009-14: FM

Average inflation down to 4.6%, lower than during any other Government

Inflation in December 2018 down to 2.19% only

Fiscal deficit down to 3.4% in 2018-19 RE from the high of almost 6% seven years ago

CAD likely to be only 2.5% of GDP this year against a high of 5.6% six years ago

India attracted massive amount of FDI, worth $239 billion, during the last 5 years

“India is solidly back on track and marching towards growth and prosperity”, says FM

India becomes the fastest growing major economy in the world

Double-digit inflation contained and fiscal balance restored

Liberalization of FDI policy, allowing most FDI to come through the automatic route

Farmers

Assured MSP of minimum 50% to all 22 crops

Interest subvention doubled in last 5 years

Soil Health card, Neem coated Urea game changer in farm sector.