Live Mint : 10 July 14
Fiscal deficit
* Accepts fiscal deficit target of 4.1% of GDP for 2014-15
* Fiscal deficit seen at 3.6% of GDP in 2015-16
* “We cannot spend beyond our means,” says finance minister
* Tax-to-GDP ratio must be raised
Growth
* Aims for sustained growth of 7-8% in the next 3-4 years
* Finance minister says he is bound to usher in policies for higher growth, lower inflation
Taxation
* Jaitley vows to maintain a stable tax environment but stops short of scrapping rules on retrospective tax
* All pending cases of retrospective tax for indirect transfers to be examined by committee before action is taken
* Government will not ordinarily bring any change retrospectively that creates a new liability, Jaitley says
* Aims to approve goods and services tax by end of this year
* Extends 5% withholding tax on corporate bonds until June 30 2017
* To provide necessary tax changes to introduce real estate investment trusts and infrastructure investment trusts
* Extends 10-year tax holiday for power generation companies
To increase personal tax exemption limit by Rs.50,000 to Rs.250,000 for people less than 60 years; to Rs.300,000 for senior citizens
Education cess to continue at 3%
To increase investment limit under Section 83 to Rs.150,000 from Rs.100,000
To provide investment allowance at 15% for 3 years to manufacturing firms which invest more than Rs.25 crore in plant and machinery
Revenues and expenditure
* Estimates that total expenditure will be Rs.17.95 trillion in 2014/15
* Revenue deficit seen at 2.9% of GDP in 2014/15
* Capital receipts seen at Rs.73,950 crore in 2014/15
* Retains tax collection targets and makes no major changes to direct tax rates
* Allocates Rs.2.29 trillion for defence spending in 2014-15; capital outlay raised by Rs.5,000 crore over interim budget
* Earmarks Rs.7,060 crore to create 100 “smart cities”
* Proposes Rs.5,000 crore for warehousing capacity; Rs.10,000 crore of private capital for start-up companies; and Rs.37,800 crore of investment in national and state highways
* Rs.4,000 crore for affordable housing proposed through national housing bank;Rs.8,000 crore proposed for rural housing scheme
Foreign direct investment
* Raises limit on foreign direct investment in defence sector to 49% from 26%
* Raises FDI limit in insurance sector to 49% from 26%
Subsidies
* Plans to make food and petroleum subsidies more targeted
* Rural job-guarantee scheme, which provides 100 days of paid employment a year, will become more focused on asset creation
Agriculture
* Will focus on achieving 4% growth per year in agriculture
* Sets farm credit target at Rs.8 trillion for 2014/15
* Proposes a long-term rural credit fund with an initial corpus of Rs.5,000 crore
*Restructuring FCI and PDS a priority
*Rs.100 crore to set up agricultural investment fund
*To set up agricultural universities in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan
*To encourage farmers’ markets
Finance minister’s comments
* “The fiscal deficit target of 4.1% put out by my predecessor is indeed daunting. But I have decided to accept the target.”
* “The task before me is challenging because we need to revive growth in manufacturing and infrastructure. We need to introduce fiscal prudence and cannot spend beyond our means. For this, the tax-GDP ratio must be improved.”
* “A high-level committee will scrutinize retrospective tax cases. We are committed to providing a stable tax regime.”
* “We have no option but to take some bold steps to spurt economy; these are only the first steps and are directional.”
* “[India’s farming sector] has risen to the challenge of making India largely self-sufficient in providing food for growing population”, but there is “an urgent need to set up investment, both public and private”.
Excise duties
Excise duty on cigarettes hiked for 11% to 72%
To cut excise duty to 6% from 12% on footwear
Basic customs duty on non-fatty acids, glycerine to be reduced
To reduce customs duty of LCDs, LEDs on TV s below 19 inches
Duty on stainless steel products increased
Colour picture tubes to be exempted from customs duty
To reduce excise duty on food processing machinery
To impose customs duty of 10% on certain tele-communication items
Others
EPFO will launch unified account scheme
Capital of banks to be raised by allowing more shareholding
To allocate Rs.229,000 crore for defence
One Man, One Pension for soldiers- Rs.1000 crore allocated for this
To up capital outlay of defence by Rs.5,000 over and above sum provided in interim budget
Rs.100 crore allocated to create war memorial and war museum
Rs.1,000 crore over and above amount in interim budget to improve rail connectivity in Northeast India
A new 24/7 channel for Northeast India called Arun Prabha
To provide Rs.200 crore for power reforms, Rs.500 crore for water reforms in NCT Delhi
To provide Rs.180 crore to Puducherry for disaster management preparation
Rs.100 crore set aside for sports university in Manipur
To set up national sports academies in different parts of country
To provide special sum of Rs.200 crore to upgrade stadiums in Jammu and Kashmir
Rs.100 crore allocated for training for Asiad and Commonwealth Games
To set up ‘Young Leaders’ programme with initial allocation of Rs.100 crore
To provide Rs.500 crore to rehabilitate displaced Kashmiri migrants
To set up Centre for Himalayan Studies in Uttarakhand
Rs.100 crore to promote organic farming in Northeast India
Rs.100 crore set aside for ghat development
NRIs’ fund for cleaning up Ganga to be set up
To set up integrated Integrated Ganga Convocation Mission—Namami Ganga:Rs.2,037 crore allotted for this
Several major space missions planned for 2014-15
Rs.1,000 crore for railway lines in border areas
Rs.100 crore for technology development fund
Indian companies to move to new accounting standards by FY 2015-16
To raise PPF ceiling to Rs.1.5 lakh from Rs.1 lakh
Rs.500 crore to be set aside to create 5 tourist circuits
Rs.3,000 crore for modernizing police forces
Buddhist circuits like Gaya to be developed
Propose to revitalize small savings schemes
Special small savings schemes for education and marriage of girls
Govt in-principle agrees to consolidation of PSU banks
Long-term financing of infrastructure has been a constraint; banks will be encouraged to provide financing
Six new debt recovery tribunals to be set up
To accelerate exploration of coal and methane reserves
To encourage investment in mining sector and encourage sustainable mining practices
Royalty for mining to be revived on states’ request
To set up pashmina production scheme
Rs.10,000 crore for start-ups
Comprehensive policy for ship-building industry to be announced
Scheme for development of new airports through AAI and PPPs
To allocate Rs.100 crore to promote cleaner thermal power
Rs.11,000 cr allocated for development of ports
Rs.500 crore for setting up ultra-modern solar power projects Rs 500 crore for the scheme
To establish Export Promotion Mission
20 new industrial clusters to be set up
Rs.100 crore for Kisan television
Rs.5,000 crore to address the need to scientific warehousing
To set up trade facilitation centre
To support textile mega-clusters; 6 more clusters to be set up including Tamil Nadu and Surat
Ministries to be integrated through e-platform
National adaptation fund for climate change
Finance to 5 lakh landless farmers through Nabard
National Industrial Corridor with headquarters at Pune: Rs.100 crore allotted
Steps to operationalize SEZs to use unutilized land
Rs.400 crore for metro project in Lucknow and Ahmedabad
Adds slum development to list of CSR activities
Rs.100 crore for modernization of madrasas
Crisis management centre for women at Delhi; money to be provided from Nirbhaya fund
School assessment programme to be initiated at cost of Rs.30 crore
To allocate Rs.100 crore to set up virtual classrooms
To set up 5 more IITs including in Jammu and Kerala
Committed to have housing for all by 2022; will provide additional tax incentive on housing loans
Rs.8,000 crore for rural housing programme
Rs.3,600 crore for national drinking water programme
Free drug service, free diagnostic service to be set up
Backward region development fund to be launched
To set aside Rs.4,000 crore to set up 4 more Aiims institutes in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Vidharbha and Purvanchal
Govt will make effort to create more inclusive society for differently-abled
Govt to print currency notes with Braille dots
Rs.50 crore to spent by road ministry to test schemes for safety of women
To revive Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme; to set aside Rs.100 crore for this
School curriculum to have separate chapter to inculcate gender sensitization
To encourage rural entrepreneurship
E-visas in 9 indian airports within next 6 months
Govt to cover every household under total sanitation by 2019
Rs.200 crore to be allocated to building Sardar Patel’s statue
Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Rozgaar Mission to be launched
National multi-skill programme called ‘Skill India’ to be launched
Manufacturing units can sell products in retail through e-commerce platform without additional charges
The govt will constitute an expenditure management commission
To make food and petroleum subsidies more targeted
