New Delhi: Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley presents general Budget 2018-19 in Parliament.
Budget guided by mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, health, education,
employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors
Government says, a series of structural reforms will propel India among the fastest
growing economies of the world. Country firmly on course to achieve over 8 % growth as
manufacturing, services and exports back on good growth path.
MSP for all unannounced kharif crops will be one and half times of their production cost
like majority of rabi crops: Institutional Farm Credit raised to 11 lakh crore in 2018-19
from 8.5 lakh crore in 2014-15.
22,000 rural haats to be developed and upgraded into Gramin Agricultural Markets to
protect the interests of 86% small and marginal farmers.
“Operation Greens” launched to address price fluctuations in potato, tomato and onion
for benefit of farmers and consumers.
Two New Funds of Rs10,000 crore announced for Fisheries and Animal Husbandary
sectors; Re-structured National Bamboo Mission gets Rs.1290 crore.
Loans to Women Self Help Groups will increase to Rs.75,000 crore in 2019 from 42,500
crore last year.
Higher targets for Ujjwala, Saubhagya and Swachh Mission to cater to lower and middle
class in providing free LPG connections, electricity and toilets.
Outlay on health, education and social protection will be 1.38 lakh crore. Tribal students
to get Ekalavya Residential School in each tribal block by 2022. Welfare fund for SCs
gets a boost.
World‟s largest Health Protection Scheme covering over 10 crore poor and vulnerable
families launched with a family limit upto 5 lakh rupees for secondary and tertiary
treatment.
Fiscal Deficit pegged at 3.5 %, projected at 3.3 % for 2018-19.
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Rs. 5.97 lakh crore allocation for infrastructure
Ten prominent sites to be developed as Iconic tourist destinations
NITI Aayog to initiate a national programme on Artificial Intelligence(AI)
Centres of excellence to be set up on robotics, AI, Internet of things etc
Disinvestment crossed target of Rs 72,500 crore to reach Rs 1,00,000 crore
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Comprehensive Gold Policy on the anvil to develop yellow metal as an asset class
100 percent deduction proposed to companies registered as Farmer Producer Companies
with an annual turnover upto Rs. 100 crore on profit derived from such activities, for five
years from 2018-19.
Deduction of 30 percent on emoluments paid to new employees Under Section 80-JJAA
to be relaxed to 150 days for footwear and leather industry, to create more employment.
No adjustment in respect of transactions in immovable property where Circle Rate value
does not exceed 5 percent of consideration.
Proposal to extend reduced rate of 25 percent currently available for companies with
turnover of less than 50 crore (in Financial Year 2015-16), to companies reporting
turnover up to Rs. 250 crore in Financial Year 2016-17, to benefit micro, small and
medium enterprises.
Standard Deduction of Rs. 40,000 in place of present exemption for transport allowance
and reimbursement of miscellaneous medical expenses. 2.5 crore salaried employees and
pensioners to benefit.
Relief to Senior Citizens proposed:-
Exemption of interest income on deposits with banks and post offices to be
increased from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000.
TDS not required to be deducted under section 194A. Benefit also available for
interest from all fixed deposit schemes and recurring deposit schemes.
Hike in deduction limit for health insurance premium and/ or medical expenditure
from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 50,000 under section 80D.
Increase in deduction limit for medical expenditure for certain critical illness from
Rs. 60,000 (in case of senior citizens) and from Rs. 80,000 (in case of very senior
citizens) to Rs. 1 lakh for all senior citizens, under section 80DDB.
Proposed to extend Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana up to March, 2020.
Current investment limit proposed to be increased to Rs. 15 lakh from the
existing limit of Rs. 7.5 lakh per senior citizen.
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More concessions for International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), to promote trade in
stock exchanges located in IFSC.
To control cash economy, payments exceeding Rs. 10,000 in cash made by trusts and
institutions to be disallowed and would be subject to tax.
Tax on Long Term Capital Gains exceeding Rs. 1 lakh at the rate of 10 percent, without
allowing any indexation benefit. However, all gains up to 31st January, 2018 will be
grandfathered.
Proposal to introduce tax on distributed income by equity oriented mutual funds at the
rate of 10 percent.
Proposal to increase cess on personal income tax and corporation tax to 4 percent from
present 3 percent.
Proposal to roll out E-assessment across the country to almost eliminate person to person
contact leading to greater efficiency and transparency in direct tax collection.
Proposed changes in customs duty to promote creation of more jobs in the country and
also to incentivise domestic value addition and Make in India in sectors such as food
processing, electronics, auto components, footwear and furniture.
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