Union Budget 2016 - 17 Highlights - Major Developments: Focus on Panchayat and Rural Development
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2016 - 17. And he has admit that CPI rise has come down to 5.4% from 9 plus. Highlights of the Budget 2016 - 17 includes the following major breakthrough developments. Budget sees a slide in Share Market.
Tax
- Infrastructure and agriculture cess to be levied.
- Excise duty raised from 10 to 15% on tobacco products other than beads
- Service Charge of 1%- On purchase of luxury cars over ₹ 10 lakh and in-cash purchase of goods and services over ₹ 2 lakh.
- SUVs, Luxury cars to be more expensive. 4% high capacity tax for SUVs.
- Companies with revenue less than ₹ 5 crore to be taxed at 29% plus surcharge
- Limited tax compliance window from Jun 1 - Sep 30 for declaring undisclosed income at 45% incl. surcharge and penalties
- Excise 1% imposed on articles of Jewellery, excluding silver.
- 0.5% Krishi Kalyan Cess to be levied on all services.
- Pollution cess of 1% on small petrol, LPG and CNG cars;
- 2.5% on diesel cars of certain specifications;
- 4% on higher-end models.
- Dividend in excess of ₹ 10 lakh per annum to be taxed at additional 10% .
Personal Finance
- No changes have been made to existing income tax slabs
- ₹ 1,000 crore allocated for new EPF (Employees Provident Fund) scheme
- Govt. will pay EPF contribution of 8.33% for all new employees for first three years
- Deduction for rent paid will be raised from ₹ 20,000 to ₹ 60,000 to benefit those living in rented houses.
- Additional exemption of ₹ 50,000 for housing loans up to ₹ 35 lakh, provided cost of house is not above ₹ 50 lakh.
- Service tax exempted for housing construction of houses less than 60 sq. m
- 15% surcharge on income above ₹ 1 crore
Social
- ₹ 38,500 crore for Mahatma Gandhi MGNREGA for 2016 - 17
- Swach Bharat Abhiyan allocated ₹ 9,500 crores.
- Hub to support SC⟋ST entrepreneurs
- Government is launching a new initiative to provide cooking gas to BPL families with state support.
- LPG connections to be provided under the name of women members of family: ₹ 2000 crore allocated for 5 years for BPL families.
- 2.87 lakh crore grants to gram panchayats and municipalities - a quantum jump of 228% .
- 300 urban clusters to be set up under Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission
- Four schemes for animal welfare.
Health
- 2.2 lakh renal patients added every year in India. Basic dialysis equipment gets some relief.
- A new health protection scheme for health cover up to 1 lakh per family.
- National Dialysis Service Program with funds thru PPP mode to provide dialysis at all district hospitals.
- Senior citizens will get additional healthcare cover of ₹ 30,000 under the new scheme
- PM Jan Aushadhi Yojana to be strengthened, 300 generic drug store to be opened
Education
- Scheme to get ₹ 500 crore for promoting entrepreneurship among SC⟋ST
- 10 public and 10 private educational institutions to be made world-class.
- Digital repository for all school leaving certificates and diplomas.
- ₹ 1,000 crore for higher education financing.
- ₹ 1,700 crore for 1500 multi-skill development centres.
- 62 new navodaya vidyalayas to provide quality education
- Launch Digital literacy scheme to cover 6 crore additional rural households
- Provide entrepreneurship training across schools, colleges and massive online courses.
- Skill 1 crore youth in the next 3 years under the PM Kaushal Vikas Yojna-FM Jaitley
- National Skill Development Mission - training to 76 lakh youth. 1500 Multi-skill training institutes to be set up.
Energy
- ₹ 3000 crore earmarked for nuclear power generation
- Govt drawing comprehensive plan to be implemented in next 15 - 20 years for exploiting nuclear energy
- Govt to provide incentive for deep-water gas exploration
- Deepwater gas new disc to get calibrated market freedom, pre-determined ceiling price based on landed price of alternate fuels.
Investments and infrastructure
- ₹ 27,000 crore to be spent on roadways
- 65 eligible habitats to be connected via 2.23 lakh kms of road. Current construction pace is 100 kms⟋day
- Shops to be given option to remain open all seven days in a week across markets.
- ₹ 55,000 crore for roads and highways.
- Total allocation for road construction, including PMGSY, - ₹ 97,000 crore
- India՚s highest-ever production of motor vehicles was recorded in 2015
- Total outlay for infrastructure in Budget 2016 now stands at ₹ 2,21, 246 crore
- New greenfield ports to be developed on east and west coasts
- Revival of underserved airports.
- Centre to Partner with States to revive small airports for regional connectivity
- 100% FDI in marketing of food products produced and marketed in India
- Dept. of Disinvestment now will be called as Dept. of Investment and Public Asset Management
- Govt will amend Motor Vehicle Act in passenger vehicle segment to allow innovation.
- MAT will be applicable for startups that qualify for 100% tax exemption
- Direct tax proposals result in revenue loss of ₹ 1060 crore, indirect tax proposals result in gain of ₹ 20,670 crore
Agriculture
- Total allocation for agriculture and farmer welfare at ₹ 35984 crores
- 28.5 lakh hectares of land will be brought under irrigation.
- 5 lakh acres to be brought under organic farming over a three year period
- ₹ 60,000 crore for recharging of ground water recharging as there is urgent need to focus on drought hit areas cluster development for water conservation.
- Dedicated irrigation fund in NABARD of ₹ 20.000 crore
- Nominal premium and highest ever compensation in case of crop loss under the PM Fasal Bima Yojna.
Banking
- ₹ 25,000 crore towards recapitalization of public sector banks.
- Operationalize Banking Board Bureau & stand behind public sector banks.
- Increase Target of disbursement under MUDRA to 1,80, 000 crore
- Transfer of government stake in IDBI Bank below 50% started
- List General Insurance companies in the stock exchange
- Increase ATMs, micro-ATMs in post offices in next three years
✍Examrace Team at Feb 29, 2016